A Study In Dragons
by KittyBits
Summary: Post War. Hermione disappears from the wizarding society during the search for her parents' killers. 3 years after Charlie Weasley discovers a strange witch, who doesn't know that she is one. Hard work and some slow cunning love. Disregard epilogue.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter is unfortunately not mine. Though I have all the books...**

**Author's note: This is the first HP-fic I'm posting, all the others just don't... want to be written? It's quite infuriating.**

**Practical things you should know about my story: It's still being written but I have some chaps done. I will probably work in some elements from the movie-universe although it mostly will be the books I base my facts from.**

**The story is set after the Battle at Hogwarts (May 2****nd**** 1998). In total disregard of the epilogue. It's hard writing interesting stuff with that 20-year plan hanging over your head!**

**And now to something completely different:**

Melbourne, Australia. May 26th 1998

Hermione looked at the smoking heap that mere hours ago had been her parents Australian home. Inside were her parents bodies – dead, burned pieces of charcoal. The tears streak her ashen face with clear paths and the dirty drops dripped slowly onto her once pretty white blouse.

It was hardly fair. She had had to turn her parents away while everything lasted, and now, when everything had ended and all was peaceful yet again, they were torn away from her.

They hadn't been hard to find. She knew what she had erased and what she had put in their minds instead, and Melbourne really wasn't that hard to remember.

They had been a bit hurt. To think that she would do something like that to _them!_ Her _parents!_ But they forgave her – of course they did – because she was their daughter – their sole daughter – and she had done it to protect them from something they couldn't fight themselves. There had been raised voices, there had been tears, but they had embraced her and stroked her hair, and told her that everything would be al right now, because they would be together. Be a family again.

So they had sent her to her hotel to cancel her reservation and gather her belongings. No daughter of theirs was to stay in a hotel room when they were so close by.

And she had done it. She happily collected the clothes she had thrown on the floor and the bed when she had tried to figure out to wear, because what do you _wear_ when you restore your parents memories that you've yourself have erased? She'd flung everything into her trunk, returned the key with a brief goodbye, and dispparated within an hour.

And she had been too late.

She returned to her parents' new home to see tall flames kissing the sky lighting everything close by. She had fallen to her knees gasping for her breath as her heart seem to burst. She had somehow regained enough air to cry out for her parents, but nothing happened.

Nothing until now.

Loud plops indicated the arrival of fellow wizards and she slowly rose when a heavy hand was put on her shoulder. She cast a last look on the embers that should have been her life. Her new happy life.

She turned to face the aurors and hit wizards who was waiting for her, and swore to herself that the culprits would pay.

Retezat National Park, Romania. January 15th 2000

The group of educated hit wizards surrounded the old shed. Hermione could see them between he trees from her watching point. She wanted to be among the other witches and wizards, but without the proper education she was left with mapping-chores – which she was good at, no matter how dull it was. But now, at this very moment, she wished, she _longed_ for a spot on the hit team. It was after all the Lestrange brothers they were capturing now.

The two men who killed her parents.

Kingsley had told her during the rebuilding of Hogwarts. She was taking a break from cleaning out the Room of Requirement, when he had walked up to her with doom written on his face.

Then he dropped the bomb.

She hadn't spoken to anybody for three days, just worked intensely on rebuilding the closest thing to home she had at the moment. But when it was done, and the castle once again stood proudly gazing over the lake, she wasn't content. A deep unsatisfied feeling in the pit of her stomach made her continue, building, rebuilding and restoring everything possible.

It wasn't until Ron forced her to sit down for a moment and consider what she was doing that she realized what she still had to do. So she broke up with him and volunteered as an uneducated hit wizard, with a lot of experience in the Dark Arts.

A lot more than some of the newbies who were now doing what she should be doing.

Killing her parents' murderers.

She gritted her teeth in exasperation and looked away from the wizards slowly nearing the old shed when she caught the small movement out of the corner of her eye. She withdrew the brand new wand she had gotten from Ollivander after the war and started towards the movement as quietly as humanly possible, carefully avoiding the crisp leaves and sticks that lay scattered around the forest. Her breath was visible as a small cloud of mist when she exhaled and and the air was so cold that it made every intake of breath made her teeth almost sing with pain. She crouched behind a small bush and held her breath. Adrenaline was pumping through her body when she noticed a bearded, hooded man frantically stuffing something into a bag. He collected the bag and started running towards another dark figure a few paces down.

They were going to apparate!

She threw a silent stunner after the running figure, the red flash hitting him square in the back thereby sending him flying a few feet forward. She started running when the other figure turned around gaping at his fallen brother. His gaze was hateful when he moved his eyes to Hermione's face and he raised his wand, pointing it at her. She stopped and flung the blue jet of light away with a flick of her wrist.

_Protego_, she thought as he cast another spell with a slashing motion and the purple light flashed towards her. Her shield sent the light back at the wizard hitting him in the chest. She was slightly panting but her entire body was alert and ready to counter his next attack, when he surprisingly fell to the ground shouting in pain. Hermione walked to his side while cautiously holding her wand in front of her. She couldn't see what was causing his agony and she wasn't sure if she wanted it to stop. She wasn't sure if it was real or some sort of trick. Kneeling beside him she watched him in wonder when the man stopped screaming and started whimpering helplessly instead. Rodolphus Lestrange, husband of the late Bellatrix Lestrange – the murderess of Siruis Black and her parents. His eyes were almost popping out of his head when he finally – _finally –_ stopped whimpering and lied still on the hard, frozen ground. Hermione drew a sharp breath when she realized he was dead.

Grasping her wand hard in her hand, she straightened her legs and turned to examine the other Lestrange wizard. And stopped cold.

She couldn't move.

Her eyes widened in panic as the bearded younger Lestrange entered her line of sight with an ugly sneer on his face.

"You killed my brother!" He pointed his wand at her face with a look in his eyes that seemed disturbingly insane. "You will pay for this, little miss Granger." He sniggered as her eyes widened even more. "Yes I know who you are. I remember you parents." His face lighted into a form of amused lunacy. "I think I know how to-" The sound of distant voices disturbed him and Rastaban cast an annoyed glance over his shoulder. "I'm not done with you yet," he said as he grabbed her hand and apparated.

Hermione frantically tried to figure out her location, but there was no indicator, only a few trees scattered around her in a small valley surrounded by mountains. Is she had been able to move and hadn't been accompanied by one of the lunatics who killed her parents she might have taken a moment to savour the beauty around her. She probably wouldn't though, as she would have been too busy looking for the murderers, but you could always dream.

"As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted," a cold voice said and a dirty, bearded face entered her vision again. "I know what to do with you." He raised his wand and Hermione would have tightened her grip around hers if she had been able. "I think it would be _hi-la-ri-ous_ if you forgot your grudge. Simply hilarious! Ooh! And about the war! Aaaaah, I think my plan just keeps getting better." His smile chilled her soul and made her heart hammer in her chest. "_Obliviate._"

**Just a small prologue. The first **_**real**_** chapter will be up soon, after that I'm thinking about updating once a week. Or something... Maybe faster maybe slower. It depends on the bitch that calls herself my muse.**


	2. Inevitably Broken

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter doesn't belong to me... The character annoys me sometimes – how come he gets such a cool fandom and acts so mopey anyway? Luckily he's a lot cooler in fanfiction ;) And gay! *wolfish smile***

**Author's note: The first real chapter *yay*, next update some time next week... I think... Unless inspiration hijacks my life and I go on a crazy writing spree. It have happened before!**

_A small farm on the outskirts of Retezat National Park, Romania. May 19__th__ 2002_

She tucked her lunch down the small bag she carried over her shoulder and the stick into the pocket in her jacket – she didn't go anywhere without it, that just felt wrong. She made sure the scarf was tied in a tight nod so her hair would keep out of her eyes and that she hadn't forgotten anything she would need later. Irina was doing the dishes in the kitchen humming softly to herself along the radio playing Tell Me Why. She was beyond excited about the Eurovision that was coming up soon. She was sure Romania was going to win this time. Tatiana pressed a soft kiss to the old woman's hair.

"I'm leaving now," she said softly in Rumanian as to not disturb the blissful moment.

"Be careful my child," Irina answered with a happy smile.

"Don't worry, I'll just take the sheep on a small trip into the Park. I'll be back before dinner." She left the woman in the kitchen and gave her a small wave when she spotted her in the window.

The group of sheep had been bigger but not by much. Unfortunately the Rumanian economy had been on a bit of a fall down recently and everyone could feel it. Irina and Stefan and their farm helper and "adopted" daughter Tatiana felt it too, as they had to sell some of the sheep to pay for all of their expenses.

The young woman was now watching the herd carefully to avoid any accidents. She admired the distant blue mountains and breathed in the clear mountain air. She took off her jacket around noon when the sun was on it's highest and all the sheep were grassing peacefully around the small meadow. She pulled her lunch out of her bag an eyed the small amount of food sadly. She was hungry but she knew they couldn't afford much. After quickly finishing the food Irina had packed for her she leaned back against the big rock letting the sun warm her face. She contemplated taking off her shirt as the early summer heat made small drops of perspiration appear on her forehead, but decided against it - you never knew if anyone would show up. She took a sip of water from her bottle and lay down on the ground closing her eyes and savouring the moment.

She could smell the sweet smell of grass, the sharp smell of sheep and the warm smell of the sun warming the the big rocks around her.

She could feel the grass beneath her and the sun above her.

She could hear the quiet shuffling of the sheep as they ate and stones rolling down the mountain not far away.

She bolted up from her peaceful position when the sheep started bleating and moving around restlessly. She did her best to calm them down, tying some of the more nervous sheep to various bushes when she looked up and saw one of the younger ones dart away into a small group of trees infuriatingly far away. She sighed, grabbed her lucky stick, and ran after it, desperately hoping it wouldn't stray that far.

She fought her way through a bushy area certain that she heard the sheep's desperate bahs close by, but not completely sure she was walking the right way. A strange but rather loud noise made a shiver run down her back and her heart speed up with fear, but somehow she couldn't help but walk towards it. She wasn't aware that any big animals in the woods and the sound had seemed big. Her curiosity was afire as her walking picked up and she ran along a animal trail and around the corner created by a big rock.

Her eyes widened at the sight that met her when she entered the large flat opening in the terrain.

A group of 4 men were seemingly fighting to calm down a _dragon_ while waving sticks, very much like the one she always carried in her pocket. She stepped a few steps closer, gaping at the unfamiliar and honestly more than a bit intimidating sight of the dragon standing on it's hind legs flapping it's wings exasperatedly. She stepped closer again as she withdrew her stick from the back pocket in her old, saggy jeans, curiously eyeing the way red light shot from the ends of the men's sticks.

The dragon turned it's large head and fixed it's furious glance at her. Every hair on her body stood on end. She was frozen when the big creature opened it's mouth and drew in air.

"STUPEFY!" She recognized her voice but she didn't understand the words that left her lips. She didn't understand what made fiery red light erupt from the end of her stick but she understood the way the dragon's knees seemed to buckle and the way it fell down unconscious.

Then she did the same.

"Esti bine?" Tatiana flinched at the light that shone in her eyes and the poorly pronounced Rumanian.

"If you'd get that light out of my eyes, I'd be perfectly fine." She heard a quiet gasp and rubbed her eyes with a tired sigh. She glanced around her and recognized a big green heap as the dragon. It was actually rather beautiful, and it looked so peaceful as if it was sleeping and dreaming something nice. Serene even.

"She's British!" The bad Rumanian-pronouncing voice called in slightly accented English to someone.

"I'll go get Charlie, he should know this." The deep melodious voice had a heavy middle-eastern accent. How she knew that she had no idea, she hadn't been further away from the farm than you could make it back before nightfall.

She pushed herself in a sitting position and looked at the skinny guy in front of her looking back at her with worried eyes. "Are you al right Miss? I don't think it's wise for you to..." He looked resigned when she got to her feet. "...Move around so quickly after fainting."

"I feel fine. And now I will go home, thank you." She turned her back and looked right into the chest of a tall broad-chested man. Two identical broad-chested man-chests actually. With almost-identical amused faces as one of them had a horrid scar running from his eyebrow down his cheek. "If you would please get out of my way, gentlemen?" They looked at something behind her.

"You aren't going anywhere little Missy before you tell me what on earth you were thinking, walking into a dragon reservation without any safety precautions beside your wand and stupidity?" Tatiana turned at the sound of an angry voice and found a very tanned man with fiery red hair stalking towards her. He was normal height but his naked arms were pure muscle, and his short sleeved shirt was tight enough to reveal an equally fit torso.

"I had no idea this was a dragon reservation. I didn't know that dragons existed. Now I will leave. I apologize for any problems I may have caused but before you say anything I will remind you that I did in fact help you with... whatever you were doing when I arrived."

"What do you mean you didn't know dragons existed?" The red head had grabbed her arm when she turned to walk away. Up close you could see that he in fact wasn't tanned, just so very freckled it looked like he was covered in one big freckle. It had a very intriguing effect.

"Exactly what I said. Would you mind letting go of my arm? I have sheep to herd and dinner to be home for."

The man frowned. "Why are you herding sheep? And how could you not know about dragons? You're a witch for Merlin's sake! And a very capable one judging from your little show-off." The blond guy who had tried to keep her lying on the ground nodded energetically.

"A witch? Right!" If it hadn't been so very unladylike, Tatiana would have snorted. "If you're done messing with my head, I would like for you to let go of my arm."

"Are you denying that you have a wand and cast a spell a moment before?" She really couldn't do that. A tall strong built, but still somewhat androgynous, looking person stepped next to the red head and whispered something in his ear. He frowned and nodded thoughtfully before letting go of Tatiana's arm. "We would like for you to stay and help. We recently lost one from our team, and we could really use the reinforcement as you saw first hand today."

Tatiana remembered the roaring dragon with a shutter and shook her head. "I appreciate the offer - I think - but as I already mentioned, I have a job. I herd sheep and I have to go and make sure that they are all okay now. I know," she added when she recognized the look on the red head's face, "I think you might be right about the witch part, but that doesn't change that I have obligations elsewhere." She turned on her heals and gave the identical men a stern glance that made them move out of her way and walked briskly out away from the group.

She started running when she came out of hearing range. Her heart was hammering in her chest and her thoughts were mushy and incoherent.

Everything made sense.

Nothing made sense.

She returned to the meadow where the sheep were bleating sadly and she hurried and unleashed the tied up ones. She remembered the one she had been chasing and decided to let it be. She pulled her jacket on and leaned against the oak tree noticing that she was shaking slightly. Slowly sliding to the ground her hand tightened around the polished stick.

_Wand_.

It was a wand.

She rubbed her eyes and glanced at the sun. It was time to go home anyway. Irina would make her feel at ease again. She would envelope her in a warm hug and Stefan would pat her shoulder and tell her that she probably fell asleep in the sun, and he really shouldn't make a child like her do a grown-ups job. She smiled and imagined the scene as she collected all the sheep and started leading them back the trail they came from. It was only a small half hour walk but it was enough to make the shaking disappear and her good mood return. She was humming Tell Me Why when she turned the corner and spotted not the idyllic but poor farm but a big pile of rubble, and several large boulders.

Tatiana dropped to her knees at the sight.

Something in her heart seemed to burst. The feeling was somewhat familiar but that didn't make it feel any better. Somewhere inside the big pile of rubble were the closest thing to parents that she had ever had. Every thought of the sheep was forgotten when she ran to the ruin that was her home and started digging into the loose dirt. She cried for Irina and Stefan but received no answer, increasing her effort every time echo sent her pleading words back at her unanswered. Finally dropping down weary and exhausted after about an hour of fruitless digging in the dirt she slumped to the ground painful sobs leaving her lips and ripping through her chest as she gasped for breath.

The tears streaked her dirt covered face leaving clean paths down her cheeks, the dirty drops dripping onto her sweat-stained, just as dirt-covered shirt. Her jacket lay long forgotten where the sheep had waited restlessly before wandering off. Without thinking she withdrew her _wand_ and held it in front of her.

"_Accio_ Irina and Stefan," she whispered. The word was unfamiliar but somehow still eerily familiar. Anyway, they felt right and she was rewarded when the rubble started shifting and two lifeless figures rushed from the ground and flew right into her chest, knocking her over.

She sobs increased when the familiar faces looked lifelessly into the sky, the eyes clouded, their mouths breathless. Agony clenched her heart, forcing all air from her lungs and refusing any to enter. She clutched the two bodies to her body and cried and cried and cried till the sun had set and she didn't have any tears left. She looked at the stick she was still holding in her right hand. It had proven to be useful and she waved it tentatively at the ground in front of her. The dirt shifted and a deep broad hole formed at her feet. Waving the wand at her "adoptive" parents made them lift a bit from the ground, she moved the wand slowly towards the impromptu grave and the bodies followed the movement. Lowering the wand made the bodies descend into the hole. Unsure of what to do when the bodies softly hit the bottom, Tatiana flicked her wand to the side, making the the remains of the man and the woman bump into the side of the grave. Shocked Tatiana dropped her wand, making the bodies lie still in the pit. She gave a relieved breath and ran a hand trough her unruly hair to calm her nerves. Picking up the wand again, she waved it at the grave making the dirt reposition itself into it's original place, covering Irina and Stefan utterly and completely. Drained, Tatiana fell to the ground, slowly crawling to her jacket and curling up with it around her to cover her from the night chill.

_Everything has ended,_ she thought to herself as she lied on her back and watched the stars appear above her. _But all's so peaceful anyway._

There weren't any energy left in her body but sleep avoided her like spiders avoided a basilisk.

Whatever that meant.

She didn't feel Irina's and Stefan's presence. They didn't magically appear in front of her, telling her what to do now that they had left. They didn't tell her not to feel guilty. They were dead in the ground and Tatiana was alive.

Tatiana was alive and she would stay that way.

She would live for their sake, and make the best of it for their sakes.

Tomorrow she would return to the men guarding the dragons and ask if she could still have the job they offered her.

She really wanted to see that dragon again. Perhaps it could bring her some peace too.

**Tell Me Why was the Rumanian song in the Eurovision in 2002. I don't remember who sang it, but it did some research on it!**

**Anyway! I hope you enjoyed it! Please let me know if you have any comments of any kinds ^^**


	3. Protective

**Disclaimer: I could name a looong list of people who owns Harry Potter more than me! I won't though...**

**Author's note: I really don't have anything much to say at this point... Read and enjoy!**

The Ridgebit Dragon Sanctuary, Romania. May 20th 2002

Charlie was strolling around in the reserve peacefully while thinking. The situation the day before had shaken him up a bit. A meeting in the evening had made two things clear to him; no one had been aware that a witch was living nearby, and Eva had been the one to uphold the safety charms surrounding the Sanctuary. He was on his way to fix the last part.

A noise very much resembling the call of a Chinese Fireball alerted him and made him stop when he was close to spot he would raise the shields from. He knew he was in Cherry's territory but he hadn't seen her or anything that should make her cautious. He changed his course once again remembering the lost witch from yesterday. He couldn't imagine what would happen if some muggle hikers stumbled across one of his dragons, but it probably wouldn't be pretty. He increased his pace and jogged into the small opening in front of the cave where Cherry was keeping her eggs. The witch from the day before was standing in front of her, still as a statue, her eyes fixed on the red dragon hissing at her.

"I'm not going to do anything," the witch said quietly in English as she slowly stepped backwards, and without being aware of it, towards Charlie. "I'm just going to leave you alone so you can stay here in peace. You probably have a good reason for reacting so fiercely, right? You probably even have some eggs in that cave behind you." She kept her tone low and soft, holding her hands up in a friendly gesture, showing that she was unarmed, as she neared Charlie one step at the time. "I think it's a clever place to hide your eggs. Only one way in, and you're watching it closely, aren't you? My big, precious scarlet beauty. I bet all of your babies are going to be as beautiful as you."

The dragon calmed down when the witch got closer to the edge of the clearing. Charlie couldn't help but wonder how she had gotten so close without the dragon snapping her head of. The witch let her hands drop when her back hit a tree.

"Right, I'll be off then Scarlet Beauty. I hope I'll see you around. I would love to see your babies when they hatch." She turned and almost yelped when she noticed Charlie's waiting figure.

"Relax Cherry, I've got her," he called to the dragon who seemed to calm a bit down while still eyeing the intruders suspiciously. "And you little Missy are coming with me." He grabbed her arm and led her back to the trail he had left for her sake. "What were you thinking, walking up to a dragon like that? You could have gotten killed? Or something could have happened to Cherry's eggs!"

"I'm sorry I got you worried," she said coolly when he quieted. "But as you yourself saw, nothing happened. To me or _Cherry's_ eggs." She said Cherry's name as if tasting the word, savouring the way it rolled of her tongue. "I was looking for one of you."

"What do you want? I was going to reinforce our shields so no one wanders in here accidentally again. There's no reason to complain."

"I want to take you offer."

"My offer?" Charlie tried to remember what offer he had made to her. He also tried to remember what about her that seemed so damn familiar.

"I want to work with the dragons."

_Oh – that offer. _"What made you change your mind? I thought you said you had obligations elsewhere. Sheep to herd and stuff like that." Charlie withdrew his wand when they arrived at the small cabinet holding their items. "What changed?"

"My obligations died."

"Your sheep died?" Charlie turned and looked at the witch that suddenly had a hollow sound to her voice.

"I actually don't know what happened to the sheep." Charlie frowned at the blank look on the witch's face.

"Listen..."

"Tatiana." No, her name wasn't Tatiana. It didn't feel right... Anyway!

"I'm Charlie Weasley. Listen Tatiana, we don't want people here who isn't behind it 100 percent! Our mortality rate is way to high for that!" He looked at her impatiently. If she was going to back out she had to do it now, so he could kick her out before he cast the spells. And she had to hurry, so he didn't have to worry about dragons accidentally escaping or strangers accidentally walking in and getting eaten. That would be quite a hassle.

"I don't care about mortality rate. I want to do this." Her face and tone of voice were determined, but he had to push her. Normally he would put a new worker through some tests, but he didn't have the time and they really needed an extra hand. She was a capable witch, he had noticed that day before, she would be a nice reinforcement.

"I don't appreciate cowboys or suicidal dragon tamers! If you plan on getting yourself killed, I advice you to go cast yourself of the nearest cliff and not bring my friends in danger." Her eyes flashed for a moment, and Charlie thought he detected some hurt behind all the anger.

"I have nothing to live for at the moment." Her jaw was clenched and her shoulders stiff from withheld emotions. "But that doesn't mean I don't want to live. I want to help with what you're doing here. All I ever wanted to do was to help, and I still do! Want to help... I want to help the helpless, and no matter how fierce and dangerous those dragons are, they aren't invulnerable – especially with magic involved - I saw that yesterday. I'm here because I want to help the dragons."

Charlie couldn't help the small smile to form on his face. "That's the kind of answer I was looking for."

Tatiana frowned at him before her tense stance seemed to relax. "Does that mean I'm hired?"

"You're hired. Although I have to take it up with the rest when we return to the farmhouse."

"Perfect! What are we doing?" Charlie raised his wand the smile slipping of his face. Work wasn't a smiling matter, and this work was important.

"We're going to reinforce our safety wards. If some random witch can just enter the Sanctuary, we've done something wrong somewhere."

"Right!" The witch withdrew her own wand from her back pocket where he had seen it stick up earlier. "How big an area are we talking about?"

"About 100 km²." He was a bit unnerved by the determined looked on Tatiana's face and they way she just nodded when she heard how big and area they were covering.

"I can do that." She raised her wand and closed her eyes. "_Repello Muggletum._" Charlie felt the magic run from the small witch beside him and his eyes widened. "_Cave Inimicum._" Cave Inimicum? He didn't know that one... "_Muffliato._" Why would she cast that? "_Protego Totalum._" That made sense. He looked at her seeing if she had anything to add to her collection of protection spells. "Anything you'd like to add?"

"I think you've got it pretty much covered." Charlie shook his head. "You cast the muggle-repelling charm and protego totalum, which were the ones I was about to cast."

"Fine. What to do now then?"

xXx

"So those are dragon eggs?" Tatiana regarded the pale grey eggs in front of her. They looked old. Like fossils or something.

"_Si, bella._" She looked over her shoulder at the Italian wizard who she had been assigned to when Charlie had brought her back to the place they lived. "They are Antipodean Opaleye eggs. We got them from Australia. The mother died in an accident soon after she lay them so they split the eggs up and sent them out to different reserves. We got two because we have very good prior results in artificial incubation. They will be very beautiful when they hatch. I have great expectations to little Julio and Julia here." She nodded absent-mindedly. Something about Australia seemed awfully familiar. The memory slipped her attempts to reveal it, hiding in some faraway corner of her mind, out of her reach. It was like an itch begging to be scratch on that spot between and a bit below your shoulder blades which was completely out of reach, no matter how hard you tried.

Sometimes she really wished she could remember anything from before Stefan found her in the woods. She wanted to know what had happened, how she had ended up here, in the Romanian forests so far from... Well - everything.

Right now she wished for her memories to return more than ever.

"What are we going to do about them?"

"Nothing." She turned to face the man – wizard... Internal sigh – _Paolo_. "I just wanted you to see them before we start doing what was planned. Cleaning the stable." A sneer flashed over her face. She had always hated mucking out in the sheep's small stable, she couldn't imagine a _dragon_ to be cleaner than a sheep. She sighed and followed the taller man as he went to the end of the big room and slid a big door open. It smelled like... dung...

"How do we do this?" She looked at the wizard and drew her wand mirroring his movement.

"We do what we do best," he winked at her and made a suggestive roll with his hips. "Or in my case, what I do second best." Tatiana rolled her eyes. "We do magic." He lifted his wand and pointed at the stall in the corner. "_Scourgify!_" The amount of hay and dragon shit decreased, but it didn't vanish as Tatiana had expected.

"I hope you do the thing you do best a lot better than this." She gave Paolo an unimpressed lift of her eyebrows and leaned against the door to another stall.

"Oh?" He turned to her with a challenging look. "The bambina thinks she can do better?"

"Don't call me bambina, as you can see I'm nowhere close to being a child." She straightened and gave him a hard look. "And despite my urge to tell you "bloody hell, I could do that better in my sleep", I'll settle for; "yes, I believe my abilities are greater than yours at this"." She turned to the stall behind her and pointed her wand at it's dirty inside. "_Scourgify._" She gave him a triumphant smile when she turned her back to the spotless stall. "Want to check for yourself?"

He stepped next to her and glanced inside the stall. "Well signorina, you've only proved one thing."

"And what is that?"

"That witches should keep at witches jobs."

"Do you like you face as it is, because I suddenly feel like hexing it-"

"Sorry, sorry, sorry my vindictive little witch." He gave her a big grin while holding his hands defensively in front of him. "I'll go fetch some clean hay if you continue the cleaning. If we work together, we'll be done in record time!"

She gave him a glance so cold it could freeze hot cocoa, but he just smiled and started to skip out of the stable while whistling merrily to himself, so she sighed and started hexing the other stalls.

"How's it going Bella?"

"My name isn't Bella," she said before raising her wand and cleaning out the last stall without saying the spell aloud. It felt good to be done.

"Ah, but you _are_ bella!" She shook her head but the small smile revealed her amusement. She regarded the wizard as he started to divide the huge pile of hay he had floating in the air, and sent the smaller piles flying into the big empty stalls.

"Tell me about the dragons. The Opaleye, how does it look? And what do you use these stalls for? Don't the dragons live outside?"

Paolo flashed her a grin. "The Antipodean Opaleye is my favourite type of dragon. It has this beautiful pearly skin and it's eyes are all the colours in the world and without pupils. The eggs are very deceiving." Tatiana smiled at his enthusiasm. "We use the stalls for when the dragons are sedated and in for their yearly check-up. Ethan, our healer, is very good with animals and witches and wizards." He made a grimace. "He isn't very good with potions though. We should go find some books for you. We have tons of literature on dragons and other magical creatures. I'm sure you'll find it interesting." Tatiana nodded vigorously more amused than confused by Paolo's quick shift in conversation.

Paolo made the last of the floating hay fly into the last stalls with a flick of his wrist and gestured for Tatiana to follow him. She hurried to his side and bit her lip with excitement. She didn't really understand why but the thought of _books_ made her heart hammer in her chest and her palms perspire. It felt amazing though! She winced when the sharp light outside hit her eyes. When she looked up to figure out where Paolo went, she found him to be right beside her staring up in the air with a big grin.

"Oi!" Tatiana looked up and gaped. A person on a broom was floating in the air above the pair. "You done already Paolo? How's that possible? Your charms are pure rubbish!"

"I couldn't do it without a bit of help. But Terence, don't make me look bad in front of the ladies per favore!" The blond wizard on the broom descended suddenly and very fast. Tatiana gasped quietly when he landed elegantly and stepped of his broom. He looked like he hadn't noticed the smaller witch beside his colleague.

"You brought your new girlfriend to work?" Tatiana noticed his familiar British accent when he gave Paolo an incredulous look. He had noticed her after all. "Charlie's gonna rip your throat out!" The last part was added with a big grin.

"She's not my girlfriend – yet," Paolo said with a wink at Tatiana who in turn rolled her eyes. "She's the witch from yesterday. She came back and Charlie hired her."

"I feel cheated from an amazing fight." The blond's smile inflated before returning even in an even bigger state. "I'm kidding. I'm Terence Higgs." He walked over to Tatiana and shook her hand.

"Tatiana."

He didn't seem affected by the lack of a last name, he just let that big warm grin wash over her. "It's nice to have a female present at last."

"Beth's a female too, you know." Paolo injected with a glint in his eyes.

"You're right! I tend to forget that..." Tatiana wondered if the androgynous person from the day before was this Beth. It sounded likely.

"The books Paolo!"

"Yeah, sorry my friend. I promised the lady I would show her to the books." Paolo gave Terence a pat on his shoulder before he started walking towards one of the smaller buildings. Tatiana gave the blond wizard a nod before walking after the Italian. "In here, Bella, we keep all of the books we use for work or in relation to work." Paolo held the door and let Tatiana step in in front of him.

"There's a lot," she whispered with awe in her voice. She had only had a couple of different books back on the farm. A sappy romance and a predictable criminal story.

She knew both books by heart.

"No, not really. But we have almost everything written about dragons. We even have something that you can't find anywhere else." He pulled out a book from the bookcase to the right. "Charlie wrote this." Tatiana took the book and weighed it in her hand. "If you stay here I'll go make some lunch for all the workers that aren't as efficient as the two of us."

He left her after flashing a big smile and winking and Tatiana took a moment to enjoy the silence. She then slid to the floor and opened the book.

**Still not much to say... Too tired... Don't worry though – I'll probably babble on happily next chapter...**


	4. A New Family

**Disclaimer: Nope. No changes.**

**Author's note: Sorry about the last part of the chapter. I just kind of fell in love with the idea of sappy Wizard romances. And other than that – this is a bit of a filler chapter. Introducing characters and such... It had to be done! But seriously – the books! They crack me up x)**

**Oh, yeah! I just remembered I haven't told you exactly _why_ the chapters have those ridiculously corny names. That's all for my own amusement. And because I have the best name for an upcoming chapter!**

The Ridgebit Dragon Sanctuary, Romania. May 20th 2002

"You returned?" Tatiana's head whipped from the pages that had kept her captivated to the source of this deep and disturbing voice. A big dark haired man with a small shy smile was looming over her. He had been one of the almost identical twins who was in her way when she had tried to escape the day before. The un-scarred one.

"Yes I did."

"Good, there's dinner soon. Paolo said he'd left you out here to bond with the books. I hope you weren't lonely that he left you like that." Tatiana smiled at the stranger's concern and closed her book.

"I didn't even notice that lunch had passed." She glanced out the window at the slowly darkening sky and finally realized that the light had lost the sharp brightness. She rose from her sitting position on the floor and smiled to the giant in front of her. Then her stomach growled.

"Our bodies tend to notice things we don't," the wizard said to her obviously trying to hide a grin. "And now we go to eat dinner I made."

"Can I take some of the books? To read when I'm done eating?" Tatiana had finished the book Charlie had written, which was mostly about the practical things when you were taking care of dragons. Then she started reading another that was a lot older and focused on all the physiological aspects of the dragons, like their lengths, heights and uses for their skins – which honestly made Tatiana's skin creep more than a bit.

"Of course. I'll help you carry them." The big dark haired man smiled to her and a feeling like being home spread in her body. This place just felt right.

xXx

She was sitting in her room feeling a bit out of breath. Dinner had been very different from the calm meals she was used to with Irina and Stefan – the memory of them still painfully fresh in her mind – as everyone had been talking to her while Paolo had introduced and told her anecdotes even though he was seated two seats down on her side of the table and practically had to shout to be heard.

She was seated between Charlie who was something like the leader of the team and and elderly wizard called Maximilian Koenig, who wanted to be called Max and told her that he did almost all the paperwork. Apparently the dragonologists weren't blessed academically and he had to read and rewrite their reports before they were send to the Ministry of Magic. Which was a concept who seemed faintly familiar but no more than that. He told her that he was German and had worked at the Reservation for two decades with her wife Eva, who unfortunately died a month before.

The wizard who had brought her from the small library was Demitrios, who was the cooking half of the Greek twin pair. His brother Damianos was the scarred one and he apparently loved to clean. They had insisted that she only called them Dem and Damian.

Across from her at the table the strange androgynous Beth was seated. She was Egyptian and didn't talk more than a few words. With her short hair and her masculine build Tatiana wasn't sure if Beth actually _was_ female, but she sure appreciated her silent behaviour.

Between Max and Paolo the healer Elias was seated. He was the youngest on the team, fresh from the healing academy in Norway. He was Norwegian, Max explained when Paolo started a long story that apparently explained the reasons Elias was deathly scared of Norwegian lobsters.

At the far end of the table the other blonde wizard called Terence Higgs was seated. He was English like Charlie, and they had apparently gone to the same school even if they hadn't been friends before Terence started in the reservation a couple of years after Charlie.

They had been open, warm and very excited about her arrival, and Dem and Damian told about the way she had appeared out of nowhere and saved all of their lives because Elias had been to scared to help them the day before, making both Tatiana and Elias blush furiously.

After dinner Damian collected all the empty plates with a flick of his wand and Tatiana watched with a slightly fluttering heart and small smile gracing her lips as the plates floated in the air before him on the way to the kitchen.

Magic.

Then a discussion sparked about where she was supposed to sleep. The only vacant bed was in Max's room – Eva's empty bed. Paolo loudly protested against her sleeping there and exclaimed with a wink, that he would switch room with the older wizard and sleep in the same room as Tatiana. Then Max sighed and declared that Paolo just could move into him and leave his old room for Tatiana to live in. Before Paolo could protest – again – Charlie rose and said that was the way it would be, gesturing for Tatiana to follow him. Which she did. With pleasure. The friendly bickering and discussions were heart warming but overwhelming in larger doses.

All that lead to her new position – on her bed, slowly letting her eyes wander from the desk to the small, but empty, bookcase, to the chest-thingy that Charlie had said was for her clothes. She looked down on the bed and let her hand caress the flowery linens, borrowed from Beth and thereby confirming the entire "Beth being a woman"-thing that Tatiana honestly had been doubting a bit.

Well maybe not exactly _confirming._

She still wasn't sure.

The thought made her smile to herself and she looked at the big stack of books on her desk considering reading a bit. She decided on organizing them a bit first, as she _did_ have an empty bookcase in the corner, looking all alone, practically begging for loads of literature to come and fill it up. Fulfilling it's purpose.

She sorted the books after subject, secretly amused by her personal system. On the upper shelf she put _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_, _A Children's Anthology of Monsters_ and _The Monster Book of Monster_ which stopped growling when she coincidentally ran her finger down the back of it. She would have to be careful about that one.

On the next shelve she stacked _Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit, From Egg to Inferno: a Dragon Keeper's Guide, Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland, _Charlie's book on the practical aspect on dragon keeping, an old book in French with a title that translated into something like _A Historical Look on Dragons and Their Breeding Patterns _and _Men Who Loves Dragons Too Much_, a title that made her wonder how many of the men downstairs could be described as such a person.

Charlie probably, she mused to herself and leaned back so she could admire her work.

A soft knock on her door made her climb to her feet, from her sitting position in front of the bookcase.

"Yes?"

Dem peeked inside. "I brought you something," he said with a small, a bit shy smile, and he opened the door wider. "Flowers."

Tatiana accepted a big colourful bouquet and felt heat rise to her cheeks. This was her first time getting flowers from a bloke. "Thank you," she said and gave Dem a big smile. She place the bouquet on top of the bookcase and decided that she couldn't have picked a better place.

"Are you coming downstairs? We're having a slow night – Terence just left for the last patrol and Beth is demanding that someone play Exploding Snap with her."

Tatiana nodded slowly, not recognising the game and wondering how a fast night was if they had things exploding on the slow ones.

"We have another bookcase in the main room."

Her smile broadened. "I'm right behind you!"

Dem shook his head a bit but started out her room and down the stairs where Beth was sitting in a deep green sofa playing some sort of card game with Damian and Elias, who judging by his pained facial expression was losing. Max was sitting in the corner at a desk lost in some papers he was reading in deep concentration. Paolo was writing at the dining table and Charlie was crouching in front of the fireplace talking to a face in the fire.

A sight that didn't surprise Tatiana at all.

Which was a bit surprising.

And anti climatic.

"I have reason to believe I've discovered a brand new breed, Charlie! Or at least a long forgotten one!" The face in the fire was very excited, making sparks fly into the room and Beth patted the cards on the table quickly to prevent any fire to start.

"You've only seen it once, Konstantin." Charlie's voice was serious as he tried to calm the excited wizard in the fire. Paolo grinned as he noticed Tatiana and winked before returning to his writing.

"He's writing love letters to all his girlfriends back in Italy. I think he has seven or eight," Dem whispered to her who chuckled.

"But I'm _sure_ this is it! Imagine what it would mean if this was a yet to be discovered species! I almost can't contain my enthusiasm!" Tatiana glanced over to see Charlie rub his scalp and give and exasperated sigh.

"Who's he talking to?" she asked the wizard beside her.

"Konstantin. He worked here a couple of years back. He's travelling around Siberia, counting and checking up on the population of Siberian White Teeths."

"And now he thinks he's discovered a new species?"

"Apparently." Dem shrugged. "It's probably just some sort of Siberian White and Norwegian Ridgeback cross. The Norwegians sometimes fly east when the population gets to high for all the dragon to live peacefully together." Tatiana nodded.

"The books you were talking about?"

A nod of his head sent Tatiana rushing to a low bookcase next to the door to what seemed to be Terence's room. She frowned as she perused the titles. Fiction. She sighed and pulled out a random book without looking.

_Unspoken Promises_

Dear Merlin, what was this? A blonde woman and a dark haired man was staring intensely into each other's eyes on the cover with a house on fire in the background.

Dramatic.

She turned the book.

_During his years as an Unspeakable Henry Porter has grown hairy hearted (_huh?) _and cold. On a mission into the most abandoned parts of Siberia _(again with Siberia! Everything seemed to happen in the icy deserts of Russia lately) _he acquired the artefact he was looking for and the love he had given up on so many years ago._

She snorted in disgust.

"Who reads this?" she asked no one in particular and stared in amazement as Elias, Dem, Damian, Max and Beth all raised their hands. "Why?"

"It's surprisingly catchy. You should check out some of Luna Lovegood's other books. She's an amazing writer," Max said with a short glance over his shoulder.

"Really," Tatiana muttered under her breath and got a sudden hunger for radishes.

"Really. Her love stories are amazing – dramatic and heart wrenching, yet not unbelievable!" Dem smiled at her and went into the kitchen.

"I know my veela-mate's out there somewhere." Damian sighed loudly, scaring the man in the fire, as he nervously started looking around behind him.

"I must go now, Charlie. I've been warned about Death Eaters – they've been observed out here!"

"Watch out for yourself old mate." Charlie smiled at the fire.

"I will." The face disappeared with a green flash and Tatiana stared into the empty fire. She suspected that she had experienced something like this before. If only she remembered! Charlie rose from his crouching position and noticed Tatiana by the bookcase.

"_Fiery Passion_ is my least favourite," he said with a nod and a tired look at her. "Luna dedicated it to me. She's an acquaintance from back home, and she based the leading character on me." Tatiana nodded and started looking for the book.

_Dragons were all Carl Otter needed and cared about, but when a mysterious witch joins his teams of dragonologists he learns that sometimes the smallest creatures are the greatest danger._

On the cover a red headed man was staring down on a minuscule woman with something Tatiana guessed was supposed to be adoring eyes. He looked slightly manic.

"Carl Otter?" Charlie shrugged and took a stack of papers to the dining table after throwing the card players a longing glance. "You know Luna Lovegood?"

"She was something like a neighbour back home. She's great friends with my brother. I think she's written something like 6 books since the War."

"7," Max called from his desk in the corner. "_Unspoken Promises, Fiery Passion, First Lady, Detention, Slowly Regaining Health, Forbidden Love _and _Heavenly Hymn._"

Charlie nodded. "I always forget _Forbidden Love_, it's so dark compared to her other stories."

"I like it," Beth said, her voice still surprisingly deep and melodious, and Tatiana decided that she had to read the books, if only then just to know what the others were talking about.

She took _Heavenly Hymn _as it seemed like the one who had the closest thing resembling a plot (_After the Great War Violet Green decided to forsake magic completely and join a muggle monastery in a small blossoming village in Italy. But she can't help but feel attracted to the handsome Mayor who is so well-liked by his fellow citizens._). She hoped that the stories could teach her a thing or two about this magical society and their view on _muggles_, but she wasn't terribly optimistic and didn't really want to read the book if it was all gooey love and no hard facts, so she settled at the dining table with Paolo and Charlie and silently observed her new room mates and colleagues as they sat among each other and did the things they would do on a regular night.

And she supposed it was.

And she started reading her sappy romance with a small smile gracing her lips and a tingly feeling in her toes.

Even if it turned out to be extraordinarily gooey.

**So, anyone got the jokes about the names in the books? So Carl Otter was kinda lame, but hey – you get the meaning... And I'm pretty sure Luna felt bad about calling him that too!**

**Well... Maybe not... She is _Luna_ after all...**


	5. The Wind Beneath Her Wings

**Disclaimer: If Harry Potter was mine... I must be some kind of evil genius? How on earth could rights of those awesome books ever be mine? *sigh***

**Author's note: A bit of comic relief, some job assigning and frizzy hair. Oh – and exploding snap!**

The Ridgebit Dragon Sanctuary, Romania. May 21st 2002.

She gave the broom in Terence's hand a doubting look and shook her head.

"I have a distinct feeling that it would be a very bad idea for me to start doing _anything_ with that broom besides sweeping."

Terence pressed the broom to his chest with a mock shocked look. "You wouldn't dare sweeping with my precious Lightning!" Tatiana frowned in confusion. "My broom? It's a Lightning? It's a brand?" He sighed exasperatedly and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"How am I supposed to know anything about broom brands? I didn't know I was a witch until you told me! As you may recall."

Terence lifted an eyebrow before a smile burst on his face. "Which is why you have no reason to be afraid of my beloved broom! It's not like it's going to bite you or anything..." He held the broom out at the younger witch who crossed her arms defiantly. "Come on – climb aboard!"

"No." Her voice had an uncompromising tone, but Terence didn't step down from a challenge. Especially not one that was a head smaller than himself and had hair like that.

"Flying on patrols is a very important aspect in our jobs, Tatiana, you'll eventually have to fly. Don't you want a chance to practice before you attempt to outfly a Hungarian Horntail? Or a Swedish Short-Snout? You'll need either great skills or a lot of practice to survive a race with either."

"I'll just stun them."

"Alone?" Tatiana threw him a sour glare before whipping a hand forward and pulling the broom from his grip. She wasn't happy about it, but she wasn't going to die because she hadn't practised. If she was to be eaten by a dragon, then so be it, but fall to her death because she couldn't handle a broomstick? Now, that would just be embarrassing.

"All right, lassie. Throw your leg over and hold on tight." She did as Terence instructed her and gave him an impatient look when she rested in the position.

"And now what?"

"Push off from the ground." He looked as if the situation was lacking some sort of reaction, but a big grin erupted on his face when she made a little jump. She took a deep breath and sincerely doubted that she was supposed to be standing on the ground at this point. Judging by the way Terence struggled not to laugh she guessed not.

Typical.

"I hope I'm entertaining you sufficiently," she said in a cold voice, stepping off the broom and dropping it to the ground without moving her eyes from the giggling wizard. "Because this is the last time I'll be playing with your useless broomstick."

Terence couldn't withhold the laughter any more and doubled over as he grasped his stomach and heaved. A snort from behind made Tatiana turn around, revealing Elias, the twins, and Charlie who had been watching the show. Dem and Damian was leaning on each other as they cried from laughter and Charlie was trying hard to stay serious but smiles kept sliding on and off his face. Elias was watching Terence with a small smile and a longing look in his eyes.

_Adorable!_

"I hope you have chores besides flying, otherwise I might as well just quit now. And stop laughing! I'm not that funny." Tatiana crossed her arms and looked sternly at Charlie. It hurt her a bit to be the joke, but how on Merlin's woollen socks was she to make a _broomstick_ fly?

And where did those ridiculous lines come from? They just kept popping up!

"I think we can find something for you to do. And we aren't laughing at you," Charlie smiled assuringly and started towards the hatchery, gesturing for her to follow. Tatiana threw her audience a last insulted look and hurried after the red headed wizard.

"Of course you were laughing at me, I'm not stupid," she said as she caught up to him and sent him a reproachful look.

"We weren't laughing at you, we were laughing with you – at your joke!" He looked at her with mirth glinting in his eyes. Tatiana looked back at him confused.

"My joke?"

"Yeah – your broomstick joke?" She frowned. "_This is the last time I'll play with your useless broomstick_?" She was just about to ask what was so bloody funny about her telling off the cocky blond wizard, when it dawned on her.

Effectively making her blush.

"I didn't mean it like that!"

"A shame that's how people heard it then." Charlie gave her a friendly pat on her shoulder. "But you should probably start being more careful about what you say."

Tatiana scowled and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. She wondered if there were any kind of spell that would keep her frizzy mane in place, but doubted that any of the short haired Dragon Keepers would know about something like that. And even if Charlie's were quite a bit longer than the others, it certainly weren't frizzy like hers.

It was more smooth and silky. And enviable.

"Since you turned out to be rubbish with a broomstick, you'll be in charge of looking after the eggs." Charlie stopped in front of her and she caught the caring look he shot at the grey stony-looking eggs resting in the box filled with hay. "It won't be hard or anything, but you will have to do a bit of heavy lifting, and of course casting some spells..."

"I read _From Eggs to Inferno_ last night, I know what to do." Tatiana looked determinedly at her new work task and felt a sudden urge to rub her hands from contentment; she had a job to do.

"Hey," she looked up to find Charlie looking at her, his cheeks suddenly spotted with red. "You don't learn how to deal with dragons from reading books!" He gestured at the eggs. "They are real living creatures, and no _book_ is going to teach you what to dol when they spring at you, protecting their offspring!" His chest heaved a bit and Tatiana felt heat flush to her face from embarrassment and anger.

"They're eggs! I know I don't have the practical knowledge to handle real to God, living, fire-breathing dragons, I'm not an imbecile! But Merlin, Charlie – these are _eggs_! I'm supposed to keep them warm and make sure the air is moist enough without the hay getting to damp – is there more to it, then please enlighten me." They stared at each other for a moment, eyes narrowed and Tatiana's hair increasingly frizzy from the energy she emitted during her outburst.

"We have good experience with the hatchlings if we talk to them as eggs." Charlie said through clenched teeth.

"So they're a bit like plants in that way." She watched as Charlie's eyes widened at the insult against his beloved dragons and she felt a smile demand place on her face. "I'll do that then. Anything else I should know, that I won't find in my books?"

"See that light?" Charlie pointed at a little orange dot on the side of the box, trying to calm his temper before blowing up. "Keep it orange. If it turns red it needs more heat, if it turns yellow it's too hot." Tatiana nodded and he pointed at another light next to it. "This one indicates moisture. It needs to be blue. Green means too moist, purple too dry." She nodded again. "Do you know the spells?"

"They were in the book."

"Do you know how to cast them?"

"Yes, I practised a little in my room. They were easy."

"Don't brag. It's unbecoming for a young witch," Charlie said with a snort and started looking for something in his pocket. "Here." He pulled a medallion up and held it out to the small witch who took it.

"What's this for?" She pulled it over her head with a swift movement and tucked it under her shirt. Beth had given her some of her clothes and helpfully shrunk them so they fitted. The result was a shirt every bit as tight as the ones the dragonologists were wearing. Apparently loose fitting robes were hazardous when you worked with dragons.

"We use that if we need to contact each other or need help." Charlie withdrew a similar medallion from under his shirt and Tatiana couldn't help but notice just have delightfully tight it were. Charlie pulled his wand from a holster on the back of his thigh and pointed the tip at the brass circle. "You say _Fiery Passion_ to activate it, and then all of us will hurry to assist you. I doubt you'll need it though. Max is right across the yard in his office and Elias is as always inside making potions. Or trying to at least." Charlie tucked the wand back into it's holster and the medallion under his shirt. "All right?"

"_Fiery Passion_?" She bit her lip to keep from laughing but it was apparently obvious how amused she was.

"Dem's suggestion. It was right after the book was published – they kept calling me Carl." Charlie rubbed his face with a tired sigh. "If you don't have any more questions I'll have to go patrolling now. Don't hesitate to ask Max for help and you don't have to sit in here all the time – just check up on the eggs regularly."

"I'll bring some books down." Charlie nodded and stalked out the door leaving Tatiana with her new task. She turned to face the eggs after a brief glance at the retreating bum. "All right loves," she said in a soft voice. "I'm Tatiana. Pleased to meet you."

xXx

"Will she be able to handle the eggs?" Terence asked with a glance at his friend and superior. He chuckled when he noticed the still visible anger spots colouring Charlie's cheeks. "She got you mad?"

"I really hope she'll turn out to know what she's doing!" Charlie grabbed his broom with an angry tug. "She compared the eggs with _plants_!" He hissed the last word as the anger rose in him yet again. He turned and stomped to the middle of the now abandoned yard while Terence had to bite his fist from bursting in to a full blown laughter. The cold glance Charlie shot him over his shoulder made him stumble forward, and he looked down on his shorter friend with mirth in his eyes.

"You told her about the talking thing..."

"It works!"

"I'm sure it does," Terence said and shook his head. "And I'm sure you made her just as mad as she made you."

"Her hair went frizzier." The blond wizard couldn't help but double over, clutching his stomach as he gasped for air and sobbed from laughter.

"Damn it, Charlie," he gasped. "You always notice the weirdest things!"

Charlie gave his friend a freezing glance. "Sleazy Slytherin," he muttered to himself and climbed onto his broomstick.

"Gryffindork." Terence flew up before Charlie could come up with a reply and the red head set off determined to make it up by outflying the other ex-Seeker.

xXx

Tatiana was resting on her bed her nose buried deep in _Fiery Passion_, well hidden inside of _Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland,_ and wondered how something so dreadful could be so good. The chapter she was reading was nothing but heated love-making as Carl Otter almost had lost his beloved Clarice Mesdammes, the hot-tempered French witch that had appeared out of nowhere, during a momentary collapse of a dragon's restraints.

It was all rather graphic, and Tatiana wished she could explain her red cheeks with a long day of hard labour and fresh air. But the caring for the eggs hadn't really been that hard and she had been inside for almost the entire day.

She bit her fingernail and took a moment to visualize a specific move Carl made. It made her toes curl. She couldn't believe Max had read this too!

She turned another page breathlessly and her heart almost jumped out her mouth when soft knocks sounded on her door. She flipped the books quickly before pushing up into a sitting position.

"Come in?" She smiled as a big un-scarred twin entered her room with another bouquet. "Hi Dem."

"Hello. I was sent to bribe you into coming downstairs. The flowers worked yesterday and Terence and Paolo was quite determined to get you out of your room. Beth wants you to play cards with her."

"That didn't sound like an invitation." She threw her legs over the side of the bed and rose.

"Beth doesn't invite. She demands," Dem said with mock seriousness.

"Then we shouldn't keep her waiting now, should we?" She smelled the flowers briefly before taking them from Dem and placing them on her desk. She followed the big man down the stairs – again – and was immediately gestured towards the low table where Beth were shuffling the cards and Charlie was counting out small piles of multi coloured beans.

"Do you know the rules?" Tatiana sat down on the sofa shaking her head and curiously eyeing the colourful piles of beans.

"What're those?" She pointed at them.

"Exploding Snap isn't fun if you don't play for something." Paolo settled next to her on the sofa with a smile and a wink.

"I guessed that much. I want to know what they _are_."

"It's Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. It's candy," Charlie told her without looking up from his counting.

"Jelly beans," Tatiana said with a nod. "I know those."

"Be careful with them though. The 'Every Flavour'-part of their name isn't a joke."

"I got a chalk-flavoured one once." Beth didn't look up from her cards before she started dealing and Tatiana gave the piles of beans another curious look. _Every flavour, huh._

"Oh bugger." With a huff Charlie shoved a pile of beans at each person at the table and rose from his deep armchair before walking up to a window. Her eyes widened as she noticed the owl sitting patiently outside, accepting Charlie's hand fondling it's leg when the man had opened the window.

"Did she send another one?" Tatiana glanced shortly at Paolo who was grinning widely.

Charlie sighed and she noticed the thing in his hand as a sheet of paper or parchment or whatever these wizard-people used.

Owl-mail?

_Really_?

She shook her head when Charlie started complaining about getting _another_ invitation (he had apparently already received three) to his younger brother's wedding which was in August, only because his mother wanted to make sure he came.

But as he said: "I can't know that yet! We've got three maybe four batches of eggs, if your speculations about Helga's right, Beth, and if they don't hatch in July it's gonna be August, and there's no way I'm leaving you with the responsibility of those." The last comment earned him a smack on the head as Terence walked past him.

Tatiana shook her head and spent the remaining evening squealing when the cards exploded in her hands and laughing when people started telling stories from the past.

The one about Charlie's brothers sending their little sister a toilet seat from their school during their third year for some reason made her tear up.

**Yes, Fred's dead in my story too. But the brother getting married in August is George, so hey – he's coping!**


	6. Hurtful Accusations

**Disclaimer: I only borrow the characters from dear J. K. Rowling. I fully intend to give them back afterwards!**

**Author's note: Angsty angst! Then a bit of confrontation. And then shower time. I really like HP fanfics – there's just so many characters to play with!**

The Ridgebit Dragon Sanctuary, Romania. June 19th, 2002.

She panted for breath, her cheeks still wet from the tears. She collected her wand from the floor beside her bed and cast a quick spell to dry her moist pillow before falling back down, burying her face in it.

A month.

A month had passed and she still cried every night before sleeping.

A month and she still felt as hollow as someone had ripped out her intestines along with her heart.

She could keep her mood up during the day. Chat and joke with the others and smile. She smiled like her life depended on it, although it probably was more like her sanity. But at night when she lay in bed and waited for sleep to take her, everything came rushing back to her. Nothing was right and everything was wrong.

Her soft – but not too soft – mattress was supposed to be lumpy. The silence hugged her softly when it was supposed to be disturbed by snores. Her room was warm and safe but it was supposed to be draughty. She wanted the wind to shriek as it played over the gaps in the walls and she needed sticks to slap against her window.

How could she sleep when the setting was so wrong?

How could she sleep when she was so lonely?

Clutching her blanket to her breast she clenched her eyes shut and told her body to relax. To welcome a few hours of perfect peace of mind. It didn't listen to her, and she sighed and pulled out _A Children's Anthology of Monsters _from under her bed. It was so simple and boring it would make her fall asleep in a matter of minutes.

Surely

xXx

June 22th, 2002

He held the quill hovering over the parchment, listening intently to the conversation behind him. The urgent reports were long forgotten, shoved aside for something that was much more important at the moment: Tatiana's family.

And the lack of information he had about it.

The whole incident with the Welsh Green seemed odd – how could she not know about being a witch when she obviously was a skilled and well-educated one – and something about her was so infuriatingly familiar he was about to go out of his mind.

Which was why Charlie listened.

Listened to the teasing laughs as Tatiana smoothly evaded another question about her origin.

Too smoothly.

He dipped the quill in the ink for the fifth time without writing a single word and went back to scowling at the Romanian map in front of his eyes, not seeing it at all.

"Hogwarts is a magnificent school – the best in all of Europe! Which one did you attend?" Terence could be very discreet in his sly Slytherin way, but Tatiana was apparently armed with a slightly altered sort of Slytherin-slyness.

"I read Hogwarts: A History, and it did indeed seem fascinating. The text was so animated I almost felt like I was present!"

Again, this nagging feeling that Charlie was forgetting something.

Well, not exactly forgetting – he knew it was there.

More like not remembering.

He couldn't for the love of his mother and all things dragon remember what about the strange maybe-British witch was so bloody familiar.

It wad driving him to the edge.

Tearing away his patience.

That and her at times suspicious behaviour.

In the beginning it hadn't seemed odd that she wore long-sleeved shirts at all – May in the mountains was rather chilly. But now the eternal sleeves was simply out of place when the team was out and the sun beat down on them, showing no mercy for any living creature.

The war might be over, but knowledge and carefulness wasn't easily forgotten.

He had never seen her left forearm.

Never.

xXx

June 25th, 2002

"Tatiana, I want to talk to you." The red-headed wizard gave her a slightly dark look. "In private." Tatiana glanced around the room where nobody seemed to want to meet her eyes. She frowned and followed Charlie as he stalked out of the big common room and up to his chamber.

She took a moment to look around the unfamiliar room and couldn't help but notice how much bigger than hers it was. And messier. But then again – it was pretty filled with cupboards and bookcases and a big desk – lots of opportunities for stuff to pile up in spaces not meant for them. She had thought that Max had all of the paper work in his office too. Apparently not.

"What's going on, Charlie?" He gestured at the chair at the desk and Tatiana took seat in it. The dark look on his face as he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes made an uneasy feeling swell in her chest.

"How come you always wear long sleeves on you left arm?" The look he gave her left her speechless and a panicky feeling replaced the uneasiness.

"No reason," she managed to mutter and unconsciously pressed her left underarm against her chest.

The fire in Charlie's eyes was unmistakable.

"You've lived with us for over a month, and I've never seen you sleeveless even if you were sweating bullets! What are you hiding? What is it you don't want us to see?" He pushed off the wall and swiftly crossed the small amount of space between them.

"I'm not hiding anything, I swear! I just don't feel comfortable!" She couldn't help the tears from rising to her eyes as her voice grew higher pitched from desperation.

"I want to see your arm." He held his hand out, indicating for her to put her wrist into his palm, but she didn't move – she just looked at him clutching her arm to her chest.

"Please don't!" She rose from the chair and started towards the door. A sharp tuck on her shoulder made her stumble back into the chair. The tears started running down her cheeks when her left arm was forced from her cradling right. "Please don't," she sobbed, hiding her eyes in her free hand.

"Have you been lying to all of us?" Charlie forced out through clenched teeth while he kept her wrist in a vice grip. "Am I going to find the Dark Mark so neatly tattooed on your arm? Have you been tricking us into thinking you were just another victim of the war, when you were actually a culprit?"

Tatiana gaped up at the wizard, her right hand dropped to her side. The Dark Mark? She'd read about it and how Death Eaters could be summoned by Voldemort through the snake-tattoo on their arm. But this wasn't at all what she'd been expecting.

Or what Charlie had expected judging from his wide, surprised eyes as he pulled her sleeve up and revealed what she had been trying to hide.

Ugly uneven scars forming a word, that made Charlie's inside twist with bad conscience, bile rising in his throat when he realized how rash and unjustified his actions had been.

_Mudblood._

He dropped the arm as if he burnt his finger on her skin.

"Oh..." He took some steps back and sat heavy on his bed when the edge hit him in the back of his knees. "Oh."

Tatiana pulled her sleeve down, sick to her stomach from seeing the strange word that she hadn't met in any of the countless books she'd read in the past month. "Yeah..." she whispered and dried the tears away with the back of her hand.

"I'm sorry." Charlie's voice was soft and soothing and made Tatiana's eyes tear up again.

Then she realized something.

"You know what it means?" Her eyes were big and hopeful and ashame.

"Mudblood?" She nodded and Charlie felt oddly devastated and relieved at both times.

He didn't really understand why.

"Mudblood is the same as muggle-born only with a... slighting tone." She nodded and the corner of her mouth turned up for a brief moment.

"I guess I'm a muggle-born then." Charlie nodded absent-mindedly as he gazed at her arm.

"I – we – thought you might've been an escaped Death Eater. The way you always wear long-sleeved shirts and never talk about yourself. Your story about not knowing you were a witch with the way you cast spells all around you as if it was the easiest thing you've ever done. Wait – you guess?" He frowned at the small witch in front of him.

"I guess, yeah. How was I to know? I honestly can't remember _anything_ from before Stefan found me, and I had no idea magic existed before meeting you that day with Charles, the Common Welsh Green." She shifted uncomfortably in her seat under his heavy gaze. "And I really think spells is easy as breathing."

"Stefan being who?"

"The farmer who found me in the woods. He and his wife Irina let me live with them for the two years I remember. I helped them around the farm and with the sheep and such." She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and thought she had to redo her hair again, and how it sucked that plaits weren't good enough for keeping her hair disciplined.  
"You lived with a couple of old muggles for three years?"

"As I believe I just told you." Charlie was being incredibly dull and it still hurt that he and all the others had thought she was a Death Eater. Even she knew how horrible they had been.

"And you can't remember anything before these muggles found you?"

"Nothing at all." She shot Charlie an annoyed glare and crossed her legs.

"You've probably been obliviated." He said it as if it explained everything and Tatiana thought she might have to move from the historical books on to some on practical spell-casting.

History was just so intriguing! Although she did feel awful at times, when she read about the actions committed by the wizarding society. They were just so bloody arrogant sometimes!

"Which is a spell?" she asked and forced her thoughts back to the right track.

"Yes, it erases certain memories. Or all in your case." Charlie gave her a pitying look and Tatiana remembered all the funny stories about his family and considered if she had one like that too somewhere. "I might be able to fix it," he said thoughtfully and Tatiana's eyes widened.

"You can?" She was quite certain her face showed how shocked she was. Shocked and ecstatic. "That's... wow..." Her smile dropped when a rush of thoughts almost knocked her over.

"You don't want me to?" Charlie asked sensing the change in her mood.

"No – I mean yes – I mean no... There's just so much to consider! What if something happened to me that I wanted to forget? What if I did something horrible I'd like to forget? What if I were a bad person? What if I obliviated myself?" She couldn't stop babbling, but she couldn't help thinking that perhaps the life she was currently living just might be better than the one she had lived before.

"So that means no?" Charlie inquired.

"Yes." Tatiana nodded.

"It means yes?"

"No, it means no! I don't want you to restore my memory as of yet – I'd like to think about it."

"Al right. But if you want to remember someday, just say the word..." Charlie smiled friendly to her and a feeling like it was going to be okay spread in her body.

"And you'll say the word," she finished his sentence with a smile.

"Words. There's two. Finite Incante-"

"DON'T!" She rose from her chair fast and with a force that made it fall over.

"I didn't cast the spell! Sheesh!" A teasing smirk settled on Charlie's face and the heavy mood seem to leave the room in an instant.

"Sorry – there's just a lot to think about..." she said with an embarrassed smile and scratched her scalp.

"I'd think so. Just don't let it interrupt work!"

"I wont."

"Good, now leave. No wait – go to you room and I'll go downstairs and tell the other how bloody stupid we've been." He gave Tatiana's shoulder a friendly squeeze and left the room.

xXx

June 28th, 2002

Tatiana slipped into the shower room quietly and felt her heart skip a beat when she discovered she wasn't alone.

"Uhm... Hi Beth?" The other person gave Tatiana a court nod before resuming her hair wash openly ignoring the intruder. Tatiana in turn felt a bit embarrassed as she stripped of her clothes and started another shower. And she tried – really she _did_ – to keep her eyes away from Beth, but she just weren't that sure!

About the whole gender thing.

She just had to know.

To sneak a peek.

She let her glance glide over the other figure as she reached for the soap beside her.

_Act like it's completely natural._

Okay – so she was a woman.

Tatiana couldn't the feeling of relief wash over her – the idea of accidentally showering with a man, and one she hadn't known for more than a month, was less than comforting. Especially if she was going to act this shy about it, she scolded herself internally. Hey eyes drifted again when she started to soap her body.

Beth had quite small breasts, and a very square build. Her shoulders were just as broad as her hip – which wasn't necessarily a bad thing – completely without any sign of a waist. The amount and quality of the muscles she flexed when she moved impressed Tatiana, but she couldn't help but finding the square-ish build to be very unbecoming.

Merlin, she sounded snobbish.

But it _was_ the way she felt. And it wasn't just in Beth's coincidence. Max had the same square quality about him – it really didn't work for either sex.

Not that she couldn't see the usefulness in Beth's hard muscles, but sometimes a witch had to be somewhat vain. Especially in this line of work.

To stay feminine despite circumstances calling for masculinity.

She ran her hands down her sides, silently appreciating the familiar curves. She was pretty content with her figure. She found it to be feminine without being too buxom. Women looked best with the hourglass form.

The content smile made her feel a bit guilty. It was extremely mean to make herself feel better by putting Beth down. Without giving her an opportunity to defend herself.

Not that she cared – Beth. She wasn't the one being accused of Dark Magic and being an evil manipulative witch.

The memory stung. She had trusted Charlie, and he had accused her of doing something as vile as being a Death Eater! Yes, she might have been a bit secretive about things, but it wasn't because she meant anything by it, it was just a feeling inside of her that kept telling her to keep her cards close.

It really wasn't surprising that her secrecy had lead to that though.

Charlie was the leader of their team – he was responsible for their well-being and all that. He had quite a nice figure too. The solid V-shape with slender hips and broad shoulders were so incredibly masculine. His body was very fit and he wasn't too tall – which was nice when you were as small as Tatiana. The scars weren't unflattering either, but rather gave his appearance and edge and a rugged attractiveness. And red hair was – when you though about it – a rather attractive feature.

Tatiana bit her bottom lip and wondered how red the rest of his hair was, before a thought occurred to her, making all blood leave her face and the soap drop to the floor at her feet.

For a short moment she contemplated denying it, but no – it was too obvious when she thought about it.

She was attracted to him. To Charlie.

A lot.


	7. Without Their Knowledge

**Disclaimer: Me no own Harry Potter. I just play with the characters and make them do the things I want.**

**Author's note: GAH! I'm so, so sorry! fanfiction . net has been a bit troublesome and wouldn't let me update this chapter! It wouldn't even let me edit the story! **

**Anyway – this is a bit of a filler chapter, but there are some important stuff in it too! **

**Also a bit of a warning: There is mention of some malexmale romance – although onesided and really rather innocent... But if you can't stomach that stuff (am personally a HUGE fan)... Well, I don't think it's worth skipping the last part to avoid it – it's really not much!**

**So sorry for not updating before! Really! SO sorry!**

Ridgebit Dragon Sanctuary, Romania. July 1st, 2002.

Charlie had thought a lot about the conversation he had with Tatiana in his room a few nights ago. If he was to be completely honest, he hadn't thought about much beside their conversation. But seriously – how could he not? He had made her cry and he manhandled her. And then there were the entire deal with her probably being obliviated.

Damn, how he wanted to try and change that. And he really didn't understand why she wouldn't let him.

But then again – he had never really understood what went on inside witches' heads.

Dragons on the other hand! They weren't cryptically hinting for you to ask them out, and you certainly never doubted when and why they were angry. If only witches were as simple as dragons he probably wouldn't have had that many problems with them. And his mother would stop trying to pair him up with all the young single witches she knew when he was home on vacation.

Because it never worked out with those. They never understood his need to be with dragons and the danger he put himself in everyday. They always wanted to 'save him from his pained self' and all sorts of bloody nonsense.

He wasn't in pain – he just loved the big flying creatures.

If he was ever to settle with a witch, it would have to be with one who understood the love he felt his job. Preferably someone who loved them just as much as he did. Like Beth...

Or perhaps not like _Beth_.

Sometimes she said or did something that made him wonder for days if she was in fact female or if the act was one big joke on her side. Perhaps more like Tatiana. She was a witch – young and attractive and clearly interested in dragons.

And thinking of Tatiana – he wasn't sitting here at his desk for the joke of it. He had a purpose with all this sitting around.

He pulled out a clean sheet of parchment and his favourite quill.

_Dear Ron,_

_I write to you because a weird thing have happened here in the Sanctuary. Last month a strange witch walked in on us trying to restrain a Common Welsh Green and she helped us. To cut a long (and sometimes awkward) story short, she ended up working as a part of the team._

_The thing is, my dear and influential little brother, that this witch doesn't have any recollection from 3 years past and back. She calls herself Tatiana which we both sincerely doubt is her real name, and she speaks English like an Englishman. _

Which was true and scared him sometimes, when she said something so English that only he and Terence got it.

_As an auror, do you have any information about a witch disappearing 3 years ago? We think she's been obliviated, but she doesn't want her memory restored before we know what happened to her. _

_I don't enjoy asking this of you – you're probably off, busy catching the last Death Eaters – but if you know something, it just might take a big load of my conscience._

And his mind.

She was the only bloody thing he could think about recently.

_Besides all the tiring work-related stuff, how's life treating you? I hope your auror-assignments aren't keeping you from having a social life (like mine has done for the past ten years). _

_Give my regards to Mum and Dad, and please let them know that I'll try to be there for George's wedding, and that Mum can stop sending me a new invitation every week. Errol's gonna die from fatigue within a month is she keeps it up. _

_Your brother, _

_Charlie._

Satisfied with the outcome, Charlie put his quill down and went out in search for an owl to deliver his message.

xXx

July 2nd, 2002

With a tired sigh Tatiana closed the book and rubbed her eyes; she just couldn't concentrate on making the words make any kind of sense.

She glanced over at the box containing the dragon eggs and the blue and the orange light.

Nothing would happen if she went out for half an hour, she had just adjusted the heat and humidity. The conditions would probably stay stable for at least a couple of hours, if not for the rest of the day – she was very thorough in doing her chores.

She put the book on top of the pile of other discarded books and rose, carefully brushing of the dust and straws that stuck to her bum.

The sun shined down mercilessly and the light hurt her eyes when she came out of the dimly lit hatching house.

What to do now?

She contemplated joining Max in the office, but decided against it. He would probably make her do some paperwork, which she normally didn't mind. Right now the thought of it made her head ache. She like Max though. He was the only person Tatiana could talk to about things that wasn't dragons or Luna Lovegood books, and he was the first person to apologize about the distressing "Tatiana might be a Death Eater"-episode. It seemed like the others sort of saw it like a joke.

She ran a hand down her plait, absent-mindedly checking it for loose strands of hair, and decided to go see Elias the healer as he tried to make potions. She had heard a lot about his lacking skills in the brewing section but she had never seen it herself.

Entering through the door to the kitchen she carefully cleaned her boots, while sending a thought to Dem who had threatened her with painful death and bad food if she ever made a mess in his kitchen. The potion room was adjacent to the kitchen and she walked briskly over to the open door.

"Knock knock?" Tatiana said and peeked into the dim room. She caught a glance at Elias' surprised face before the content of the cauldron exploded with a soft puff, and a lot of blue smoke rose. The unlucky healer squeaked and the windows burst open, letting the billowing smoke escape before filling the small room entirely.

Tatiana had to strangle a snicker when the smoke lightened enough to let her glance at Elias once again.

His face had turned blue too.

"Don't surprise me like that," he said in a high pitiful voice. "And don't laugh at me – I'm doing my best here!"

Tatiana bit her lip and nodded with a serious look on her face. She hoped it looked serious anyway.

"Do you need some help?" she offered and to a step into the room while keeping her eyes on the still smoking cauldron.

"Have you ever brewed Pepperup before?" Elias dried his face off with his sleeve, the blue colour left unaffected.

"Never," Tatiana admitted again trying not to laugh. "But how hard can it be? You just have to follow the instructions."

"But I _did! Evanesco!_" The smoke stopped emitting from the cauldron and Elias sighed. "I don't know what I did wrong!"

"I'll help you figure it out." Tatiana walked over to the table filled with ingredients partly covering a worn book with various colourful stains. "Is this the recipe?"

Elias nodded. "But I swear I did it right! It looked perfect when it was boiling and then I added the chopped ginger and started stirring it counter clockwise and then you stepped in and it exploded."

Tatiana ran a finger down the instructions. "You mean you added the chopped ginger _and _the newt eyes and then you stirred it?" The embarrassed look on Elias' face was her answer. "Right. Well, now you know what you did wrong, so next try will probably work out better, right?" She smiled and placed the book back on the table.

"I don't know," Elias admitted. "I really am rubbish with potion brewing. Perhaps you could..." He shot her a begging look, his eyes abnormally big and blue, "help me?"

"Of course." Tatiana let the insisting smile enter her face and she carefully guided him to the stirring without any exploding incidents. She cast a silent spell she had read about and the blue colour faded from Elias' face without him ever realizing the explosion had effects beside the smoke.

"So, Elias," Tatiana started while the blond slowly stirred the thick liquid. "How long have you been working here?"

"Since September last year," he answered without looking up from his work.

"And how do you like it?" She had a question she was aching to ask him, but she knew how defensive these wizards could be if you surprised them.

"Beside the whole potion-making I like it a lot." He smiled at his potion and stopped stirring. "What now?"

"Let it rest for 2 minutes before adding the sliced mandrake root." Elias nodded and leaned back against the wall across from Tatiana. "How have the others been treating you?"

"Not a whole lot different from how they've treated you." He started fidgeting with his robe sleeve and glanced at her through his eyelashes. "Have I told you how sorry I am for the Death Eater thing?" Tatiana shook her head with a soft smile. "Really? Well – I'm so, so sorry. It's just... The war thing sits deep in all of us, you know?"

"Of course not – I can't remember anything."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot." Elias blushed and Tatiana couldn't help but feel ancient compared to his innocent embarrassment.

"So who's you favourite person out here?" she asked cheerily hoping he could feel her want to change subject.

"Uhm... Max I think?"

"That's not true. He's too much into writing reports and doing paper work. And he's my favourite person. Pick another!" The light blush that had started creeping to Elias' cheeks made Tatiana's mouth crook slightly.

"I really admire Charlie – he has an amazing way with the dragons, and he really loves them!"

"But he's not your favourite person either." To be honest, he was probably more like Tatiana's favourite person too. If it wasn't for the accusations, which _still_ hurt.

Elias looked at Tatiana with a guarded look. "Why don't _you_ tell me who my favourite person is?" he asked cautiously.

"Okay," Tatiana said and dumped the mandrake root into the cauldron and watched as it turned green. "Stir it clockwise three turns and then two turns counter clockwise. You're favourite person is Terence." Elias' wand was hovering above the cauldron, completely still, while he stared wide-eyed at the witch. "I thought so..."

He straightened and took a step away from the simmering cauldron his eyes not leaving Tatiana's face. "Why do you think that?" he asked in an overly airy tone.

Shaking her head slightly Tatiana stepped next to the boiling potion and made it stir slowly by moving her wand in circles above it. "That act won't work on me sweet Elias. I might not remember anything, but I recognize an infatuated face when I see one – and you, dear, can hardly look anywhere but at him."

She stopped the stirring and made the pulverized bicorn horn flow into the potion, making it turn cherry red.

"You aren't going to tell him, are you?" Tatiana glanced up at the healer who was resting against the wall restlessly fidgeting with a lose thread on his rope sleeve.

"Of course not." He glanced up at her, a small uncertain smile gracing his lips. She returned it encouragingly and pushed a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Do you think anyone else has noticed?"

"I doubt it," she answered and scratched in itch on her neck. "Dragonologists aren't exactly perceptive when the subject doesn't have wings or breathe fire." Elias nodded with with a relieved smile and they started pouring the finished potion into vials.

"Why would you make Pepperup Potion anyway? It's July." Elias shrugged.

"I noticed that we didn't have anything, and I thought that it might come in handy having some stored up."

Tatiana carefully placed the vials in a small bow for the infirmary. "So Terence's drippy nose at breakfast wasn't a factor?"

The healer snatched the box from her hands, a blush colouring his face. "Why do you ask questions when you aren't satisfied with the answers I give you?" he muttered and left the room, Tatiana stubbornly following him.

"Because I like to see you squirm when my presumptions are right. It makes me feel less like the newcomer."

"Presumptions about what?" The deep voice made the bickering couple turn around.

"About Elias' fear of Lobsters," Tatiana said and smiled at Paolo and Terence who apparently had just returned home. "What are you doing home so early?"

"Terence here kept complaining about having a headache and not being able to breathe through his nose," Paolo answered with a big grin and a nod towards his friend.

"It's troublesome when you fly! And my head really is killing me," the other wizard whined and dropped into a arm chair. To his defence, he did sound a bit nasal.

"Well, Terence," Tatiana said with a glance at Elias who was looking determinedly at his feet. "That sure sounds like a cold. Don't you think so too, Elias? You're the healer after all."

"I suppose," the wizard in question muttered and shifted his weight to his other foot uncomfortably.

"But it's July," Terence whined from his chair. "Who gets colds in July?"

"People not wearing enough clothes while flying in the mountains." The witch gave him a stern look before easing it into a small smile. "Luckily Elias just made some Pepperup."

"Oh. I – oh!" Terence looked positively terrified as he quickly got up from his chair. "I don't think I need a potion – I'm just whining a bit. I don't feel that bad!" He gave the witch a charming smile, but had to grasp the back of the chair as dizziness made his knees buckle.

"Sit," Tatiana ordered and withdrew a vial from the box Elias was holding. He looked up at her with red cheeks and a deeply hurt look in his eyes and she patted his hand comfortingly. "Drink this." She said and stalked over to Terence who had settled back into the chair again.

"Do I have to?" the wizard asked in a pitifully low voice. "Last time it took half a week for my head to regain it's normal size."

"Drink." Tatiana's voice was cold and made sure Terence knew there was no way for him to avoid the pretty red liquid in front of him.

_Oh, well,_ he thought to himself,_ at least the colour's right this time_. And he took the vial and downed the drink his eyes clenched shut.

He put the vial down on the coffee table and held his breath as he waited for the potion to take effect.

And then his eyes flew open, his headache cleared, his nose unclogged, and – he held his hand up to his ear – steam was coming out from his ears as well. He looked up and noticed the smug look on Tatiana's face.

"Wow!" He looked over at the silent healer and shot him a big grin. "That sure is some potent potion you made this time, El!" The healer looked down and blushed even deeper before mumbling something and practically running for the infirmary, the box pressed to his chest.

Paolo declared he would return to work and left the living room with a smile and a wink at Tatiana.

She said she would go check up on the eggs, and that Terence should take a break until the steaming had stopped.

Terence was left alone in the big room, staring at the door to the infirmary with a thoughtful look.

**And I actually planned on updating yesterday, but no one wanted to beta, so I had to do it myself! **

**I'm slightly miffed!**


	8. Crouching Dragon, Hidden Romance

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not my invention or possession, no matter how much I wish I could come up with anything as amazing as that universe. The plot on the other hand I came up with all on my own!**

**Author's note: A bit of a shorty, but I feel rather confident that you won't be disappointed ;)**

"I'm sure of it Charlie," Beth said with conviction and the red-head couldn't help but nod. "Helga has eggs hidden somewhere and you know how it went last time she had eggs."

"We'll go look for them then," he said solemnly and looked at the people around the breakfast table. "Paolo you''ll come along too, and Tatiana – we can use your spelling skills. You can ride with Beth on her broom. We aren't going to give Helga an opportunity to stomp another of her batches to death." He looked impatiently at his fellow wizards and witches. "Anyone else have something they want to share?"

"The eggs are going to hatch soon," Tatiana stated without looking up from the Lune Lovegood novel called _First Lady_, which Charlie was certain she had read before.

"And you're sure about that?" he inquired. For some reason he really wanted her to show some recognition.

"Of course," she replied with a pointed look at him. "I've read all the books about it – I'm quite _sure_ that I can recognize the signs when I see them."

"Haven't you read that book like five times already?" Paolo asked as he lifted the book from the table and inspected the cover.

"Six, but I don't see why that is so important," she snapped and the twins across the table had to hide their grins behind their hands.

"Fine," Charlie said quickly as to avoid a confrontation. "I'll go check out the eggs with Tatiana and then we'll leave with Beth and Paolo. Max, I'll like for you to do your work in the hatching house, in case anything happens with the eggs. I don't expect them to hatch just yet, so no need for you to worry about that – but you never know. You others already know what you're supposed to do." He looked around on the waiting faces. "Dismissed."

xXx

He didn't know when or how it happened, but he must have slid on the unsteady rocks at some point.

Except that that didn't explain his position completely, he reasoned as he lied completely still and stared at the dragon's abdomen a few inches away from his face. Maybe, he thought, Helga had swept him off of his feet with her tail when she was moving. That explained why he was lying beneath her, unnoticed, feeling like a hammer had knocked the breath out of him.

One thing was certain: he needed help to get away from here. Fast, preferably, before Helga accidentally stepped on him and clawed his chest open and sent him to... Where ever you went when you die.

This was a bit of a sticky situation.

A quick glance around didn't help the growing feeling of panic. Paolo frowned at the dragon while Beth held her wand ready, but hesitated to cast anything. Tatiana looked thoughtful as always. Charlie wanted to sigh.

Some heroes they were.

Except they weren't.

They hadn't done anything at all yet. Why didn't the stun Helga? For Merlin's sake – they could apparate to the infirmary with him afterwards – no harm done, he would easily survive some crushed bones even if it would hurt like hell. But they didn't stun her. Paolo and Beth just looked at each other and something behind the dragon exasperatedly while Tatiana was looking at the ground around her. Then she looked up with a look of determination and a raised wand, that made Charlie want to sigh from relief. He didn't dare though. He was still a bit nervous that the dragon would hear the loud beats of his heart. Luckily now Tatiana was going to do something about this madness.

His smile stiffened when she went a small rock flying up and hitting Helga's head.

Okay – so the madness was to intensify before ending.

"Oi, Helga," she shouted. "Why don't you do something to protect those precious eggs of yours? You know we're here to take them." She sent another rock, this time quite a bit larger, flying into Helga's head, and Charlie watched in horror as the dragon opened it's big mouth and took a hesitant step towards the small, but extremely provoking witch.

So the madness weren't going to end any time soon apparently.

Bloody hell.

"Ready?" Tatiana yelled with her wand in ready-position in front of her and Charlie wondered for what. "Follow my lead!" He watched as the dragon slowly stepped away from his body and closer to Tatiana. In a moment a fiercely strong flame would erupt from Helga's mouth and turn the newest addition to his team into a bloody piece of charcoal. Like Lucas Bleinwecker, the unlucky git.

He saw the tightening in Helga's neck a moment before he heard a somewhat distant "STUPEFY!".

"STUPEFY," another voice closer to Charlie sounded and immediately after realization occurred to him. He rolled a bit further away from the dragon when another "STUPEFY" sounded. Charlie regained his footing while simultaneously pulling out his wand.

"STUPEFY," he yelled with all of his might.

And he watched with a relieved sigh when the gigantic Hungarian Horntail slumped to the ground unconsciously.

After a quick glance around to make sure his team members were al right, he took a deep breath and straightened his back. Now was time to get bossy and yell at somebody.

"What were you thinking provoking her like that? You could've been hurt," he yelled as he stalked up to Tatiana who was tentatively touching where her eyebrows had been mere moments before.

"I couldn't very well stun her, the way she was looming over you – she would have crushed your body. And I didn't get hurt, I had perfect control over the situation," she replied instantly clearly not intimidated by his anger.

"Then how come you don't have eyebrows any more?" He pointed at her forehead, and her hand went back up to cover the burnt skin.

"A small price to pay for a risk I had to take," she shrugged as if it wasn't important.

"You didn't – that was a stupid and UNnecessary risk!"

"It was a risk that saved your life!"

"It did not," Charlie shot back. There were tons of ways for the team to save his life without having to put their own at risk. And he would have preferred any of those.

"Perhaps, but it did save you a trip from the infirmary." Somewhere behind him he could hear Beth and Paolo mutter quietly together and he wondered briefly what they were doing.

"You! That's not worth dying... " he sputtered. "No – I don't care any more. I should have known better than to hire a _witch_, no matter how skilled." He rubbed his eyes with a resigned sigh.

"I'm sorry – _what?_ You think I did it because I'm a witch? How on Babylon's floating gardens did that conclusion occur to you?" Charlie looked up to find the small witch staring back at him, her hair crackling silently with static.

"Witches are more emotional," he replied and crossed his arms over his chest. She was proving his point at the very moment.

"EMOTIONAL! The only reason, Charles Weasley, that I'm _emotional_ is because you keep pushing my buttons! I haven't ONCE let my emotions dictate my actions! The attraction I feel towards you haven't influenced my behaviour at ANY point, thank you very much!" She stepped closer to him, poking her finger into his chest repeatedly.

"So throwing a stone at a furious Hungarian Horntail just to prevent me from ending up in the infirmary wasn't an emotional action?" he asked and pushed her prodding finger away.

"I didn't say that it was the only reason!" She raised an eyebrow and a provoking, better knowing smirk formed on her lips. She stepped away from him slowly, but deliberately putting her hands on her hips in a gestured that reminded him terribly of his mother.

"So there were more reasons? And pray tell me why you didn't mention that before?" He fought the urge to pull out his hair or throw his arms up in the air in exasperation.

"I didn't want to hurt _your_ precious feelings by saying that the main reason I threw that rock was because she was standing too close to her eggs. A stunner would have knocked her in their direction and I wanted to prevent anything from happening to them!"

Charlie blinked speechless for a moment before closing the distance between them with two long steps. He pressed her body against his mashing their lips together that felt a bit painful but also so very, very good.

"Why did you do that?" she asked a moment after, trying to get some room between them and obviously still angry, even if she had in fact kissed him back.

"I've never met a witch who put the dragons first before," he admitted and realized how true those words really were. Witches didn't know how to appreciate the flying predators of the sky. And that sounded ridiculously poetic and he should really stop thinking and pay attention to the small figure pressed against his chest.

"I'm sure Beth do too..." Charlie frowned when he remembered the other witch on his team. Then he shrugged.

"She doesn't really count."

"I suppose you're right." She looked him in the eyes smiling before letting her eyes drop to his lips and he couldn't help but to descend on hers again, savouring the soft feeling and the amazing taste of her mouth. "Wait, stop!" she interrupted and pulled back. "Does this mean you're attracted to me too?"

"I more than one way yes." He really wanted to push a loose lock of hair behind her ear, so he did and he relished in the new privileges he had acquired so easily and naturally.

"Your turn to explain." He nodded, not caring one moment that he didn't know what she meant.

"I've acknowledged that you were an attractive witch from the first time I met you. And now this..." He smiled. "You're just too perfect."

"Because I'm good looking and into dragons?"

"In my experience, witches doesn't mind dragons as long as they don't keep me from showing up at our dates. Then they tend to dislike them," Charlie admitted and noticed how fast his heart was beating. He had noticed how beautiful she was the very first time he laid eyes upon her and he had been fascinated with her rapidly growing knowledge of dragons. Even if she did infuriate him at times with her better knowing way of informing him of things he had known for years.

"Females, of all sorts and kinds, like to be put first – that's natural." She explained in her susual lecturing tone and he really didn't care. "But does my putting the eggs before your safety really get you that heated? Seriously?" She gave him an odd look.

"I guess it does. I really love dragons, and if you share those feelings? Wow..." And truth be told, he was quite certain that he would do as her and put the dragon first. Did that make him a bas person?

"Dragons are the most amazing thing I can remember to have come across." His heart soared with her words and he finally understood what it was like to find the one person you were meant to be with. She was just too perfect not to be intended for him.

"I have never heard a witch say something sweeter to me!" He buried her face in his neck and silently inhaled the smell of her hair. It smelt a bit unkept and a little burnt from the dragon fire and it was the sweetest smell Charlie had ever smelt.

"Calm down Mr. Weasley. I'm almost expecting you to declare your undying love for me with the rate your keeping." she chuckled as she pulled off of his chest and shot him a big pretty smile.

"Undying love might be a bit much, but I'm attracted to you. On the mental as well as the physical level."

"Oh," Tatiana blushed with a happy smile and Charlie was certain that his cheeks were a bit red themselves. "Well, the feelings are returned." And so his lips did.

xXx

Charlie helped her off of his broom and she felt her face heat a bit from his kind gesture. She was still a bit surprised by his actions earlier but she liked it.

She liked _him_.

He took her hand and lead her towards the house when a loud cry made them turn alerted, their wands withdrawn and pointing from the place the sound had come. The hatching house.

They watched with withheld breath as a wildly flaying figure appeared swiftly followed by another smaller flying figure.

"CHARLIE WEASLEY," he cried as he stormed at them, his face a contorted mask of anger and confusion. The wizard in question dropped the broom and held his hands up in front of him as he erupted into helpless laughter and Tatiana grinned and watched how the sun reflected in the dragon's beautiful white wings.

Dragons were a magnificent race.


	9. A Moment Of Bliss

**Disclaimer: Nope. Absolutely no changes on the owning front.**

**Author's note: Gah – I forgot writing date on the last chapter! To make it up I will tell you now – it was the 13****th**** and it wasn't a Friday. **

**Now – new chapter – yay – and there will be some filler and some fluffiness and again some slight SLASHiness, but it's really not something that should keep you away – it is totally one-sided and mostly just crying... **

**And then – cliffie!**

**Now enjoy!**

The Ridgebit Dragon Sanctuary, Romania. August 1st, 2002.

"This is _not_ what I agreed to when I signed up here," Max muttered outside the window of his office and Tatiana smiled at his complaints, which were so very disagreeing with the care he showed the newly hatched Antipodean Opaleye.

"After all of your time here, Max, I thought you would have realized that what you agree to and what you actually do is two very different matters. I figured that out within a week, I believe." She tried to quell her smile but the gruffed look she received from the wizard peeking in through the window made it grow instead. "Don't look at me that way! At least I didn't call you Mother Max like Dem and Damian do!"

"You're right," the middle-aged wizard admitted with a distinctively tired look sliding onto his face. "They just won't stop using that dreadful nickname. How do you reckon I can make them stop?" He disappeared from the window, but Tatiana knew he still wanted her to reply.

"I suppose they will grow tired from it eventually," she suggested and flipped through the pile of parchment sheets.

"Really?"

She smiled and realized some names just stuck. "Nah," she admitted, "I don't think that'll ever happen."

"Didn't think so either."

Hermione sorted some of the mess Max had left on his desk from last time the baby-dragon had burst through the window in search of his adopted mother. After it had hatched Max had found it impossible to be alone without it appearing sooner or later. Sooner rather than later lately. It had resulted in Tatiana doing the majority of the paperwork, as she still couldn't make a broomstick levitate and now didn't have any eggs to watch since the other had appeared not to want to hatch.

Charlie had been very disappointed about that.

So she had comforted him.

Tatiana felt her face heat as she remembered some of the evenings they had spent on his bed talking about dragons, the dragon keepers, and plain old nothing and just enjoyed being together. And the kisses.

She couldn't remember ever kissing anyone like that. Of course she had kissed Irina on the cheek as greeting and show of affection, but living in the mountains with an old married couple hadn't left much chance of romance for her. She guess she should just praise her luck that she had eventually found someone who wanted to be with her in the romantic sense.

She sighed happily with a faint blush colouring her cheeks.

"Why are you sighing?" the German wizard asked from outside.

"No reason," she replied and smiled at the wildly swinging dragon tail she could make out in the top of the open window. "What do you reckon we should call him? Her? What sex is it really, I don't think anyone have told me and _it_ certainly won't let me come near enough to let me inspect it myself!" Max chuckled darkly at her question.

"It's a he. And I doubt he'll let anyone beside me come that close willingly. Which is why Charlie got that burn on his forearm."

"Oh," Tatiana said quietly. "He wouldn't tell me how he got that," she continued loud enough for Max to hear. She started drawing slow circles with her quill on the bottom of a messily written report. She suspected Terence was the culprit, maybe Paolo.

"I think Charlie was a bit embarrassed about it – he's typically the one the hatchlings prefer. I think it's the hair!"

"Sure," she commented with a snigger and wrote behind her ear that she ought to tease Charlie about it when she saw him next. "But what about a name, Max? Have you thought about something, because I have no ideas, whatsoever!"

"I was thinking," Max started slowly, with a clear note of hesitance, "Oliver."

"Oliver?"

"Yeah, what do you think about Oliver?"

Tatiana smiled and wrote Oliver, the Antipodean Opaleye next to her doodles. "I like it. Oliver, the Antipodean Opaleye has quite a ring to it!"

Max hummed his agreement and Tatiana vanished the doodles and writing in the bottom of Terence's report and went back to her sorting job. She could hear the older wizard talk softly to the dragon and smiled at her papers.

xXx

Tatiana smiled at Charlie's back as she entered his room and closed his door with a soft click. He turned in his chair and smiled when he saw her and put his quill down so he could turn his chair around and hold his arms open at her. She slid into his lap with a slightly embarrassed smile and accepted the soft kiss.

"And for what reason do I deserve a visit from the very popular, but extremely elusive Tatiana?" he asked with a teasing grin that only grew when she smacked his arm with a mock offended look.

"Are you accusing me of neglecting you?"

"Why yes I am," he grinned. "Always spending time with that bloody Max and his baby dragon."

"Did you know he decided on a name? Oliver – I think it's nice."

"Oliver the Antipodean Opaleye? That does have quite a ring to it."

"That's what I said!" Charlie removed the strap that contained Tatiana's hair and weaved his fingers through it.

"How can hair be this unruly? If you didn't tie it up you'd never be able to control it – you'd probably have to cut it off!" He smirked at here and leaned in to smell the her personal odour of parchment, clean sheets, and some thing flowery.

"Will you please stop teasing me and just kiss me already?" she groaned. Charlie chuckled and pulled her face close to his, brushing his lips softly against hers and she sighed as she leaned in and deepened the kiss.

Charlie had been in his share of snogging-sessions and he had been spectator to even more, which really wasn't surprising when you considered his four brothers and dear younger sister, who had probably done more snogging during the Christmas break last year than he'd ever participate in in his entire life. He had practically walked in on her and Harry in every room at one point of his two weeks off and had asked George if he would hurry up and finish with his memory altering gum or what ever it would turn out to be as quickly as possible.

He had picked up the term "brain bleach" somewhere and had been quite fond of the idea.

One did not appreciate seeing his baby sister half-naked in a broom-closet with her fiancé, no matter how much you like the bloke.

When he and Tatiana snogged it was very different from what he was used to though. She kept the pace slow and she didn't grope as much as she ran her arms appreciatively over his arms and across chest and abs – when they moved that low on occasion – but it didn't make Charlie impatient. He hadn't expected a romantic opportunity to practically walk into his work-place and even if he hadn't had sex in a lot longer than he'd like to acknowledge he wasn't desperate or starved for some action.

The close proximity was having a effect on his lower half though and he slowly pulled away from Tatiana's insisting mouth and probing tongue before his appreciation became too obvious.

"Anyway," she said, picking up on some conversation he didn't know they were having, and fanned some sheets of paper he honestly hadn't noticed either under his nose. "I did some work."

"Well, that's certainly a surprise – you never do anything but slack around lately," he sad with a smirk and winked at her tired look and rolling eyes.

"Will you stop joking around so much, it is _very_ unbecoming, Mr. I'm-The-Boss-Around-Here-So-I-Never-Joke. I did some _extra_ work – no funny comments," she added when he opened his mouth and she smiled proudly when he closed it again, "about the dragons Konstantin observed." The Russian had flooed Charlie the night before and talked for a whole hour about what he suspected was "an entirely undiscovered or suspected extinct dragon breed", and it had teased Tatiana's curiosity so much she had spent the entire afternoon looking through some of the old books in the library. She had been somewhat traumatized by the discovery of an actual bookworm body in a small collection of notes that had fallen back behind the bookcase. Now she unfolded the big piece of parchment where she had made a brain-storm on what sort of dragon it could possibly be."I've discovered four breeds which are considered to be extinct and five possible cross-breeds where I consider the characteristics Konstantin listed and the breeds that live close by – why are you looking at me like that?"

Charlie blinked at the woman in his lap. "When did you say you did this?" he asked secretly very impressed about her work and huge sheet of parchment filled with her tidy minuscule writing and a very neat drawing of some of the things the old wizard had told him about.

"This afternoon," Tatiana told him with a small shrug. "I had some time to spare after I tidied up Max's office. I don't think it's wise for him to be in there when Oliver can show up any minute and mess up an entire day's work."

"You researched and wrote this in one afternoon?"

"That's what I told you," she replied dryly and rolled her eyes again at his daftness.

"I'm impressed. If you weren't so surprisingly handy around here I would consider selling you as a slave cleric to the Ministry of Magic!" The horrified look on Tatiana's face wiped his grin of. "That was a joke! We don't have slaves, calm down!" He pressed a soft kiss to her cheek and smiled when a flattering blush rose to her cheeks. "I'm looking forward to reading this more thoroughly," he added with a look on the tiny writing. "You did a great job."

"It was easy work," Tatiana insisted and shook her head. "Anyone could have done it."

"But we didn't. I've been telling myself to do this for months now – if it really were that easy I would have done it long ago!"

"I guess, but you could probably add a lot of you own exp-" Tatiana was rudely interrupted when Charlie's door burst opened and a loudly sobbing healer rushed into the room and threw his arms around her neck. "Elias," she started and locked eyes with the just as shocked Charlie over the crying wizards shoulder. "What's wrong?" He sobbed something unintelligible and sobbed even harder into her hair.

Charlie shrugged and tried to move out from under Tatiana when Elias moved a bit and settled on her lap. The redhead gave a huff when an elbow hit his solar plexus and emptied his lungs.

"Try one more time," Tatiana whispered softly and gave Charlie an apologetic smile. "I didn't quite get it the first time."

"H-he said," the blond started and stopped to sniff and dry his eyes with his sleeve. "He said that he really liked spending time with me..."

"And?" Tatiana asked, waiting for the cause of the water sports. "What more?"

"A-a-and then..." Elias was on the edge of more tears and had a strained look on his face as he fought to keep them back a moment longer. "And then he said that never had a friend like me before," and he burst into another angry fit of crying and sobbing and hiccuping. Charlie watched his healer clearly uncomfortable with the situation and Tatiana fought the urge to snicker at his shocked face and wide eyes.

"Isn't it good that he considers you friends?" she asked the man who was working his hardest on soaking her shirt with his tears and Tatiana wondered for a brief moment when she last had cried like this. She didn't remember but it was some time ago she realized and smiled brightly at Charlie.

"No," Elias's broken voice interrupted her line of though. "I don't wanna be _friends_." And he was crying even harder than he did a moment ago and Tatiana absent-mindedly patted his shoulder as she contemplated her options.

"Listen up Elias – we're going to go into my room, so Charlie can continue his important boss-work, and the two of us will go into my room and I'll explain just exactly _why _it's good that Terence counts you as his friend." She rolled her eyes at her boyfriend as he mouthed _Terence_ with a facial expression that looked very much like a big question mark.

"Okay," the crying wizard sniffed and left Tatiana's lap and quickly shuffled out the door without looking once at his terrified boss.

"Higgs?" the boss in question asked and watched as the witch left his lap.

"Who else?" she asked back and pecked him quickly on the cheek before following her friend to the door. "I'll probably talk with Elias for a while and then get some more work done. I'll see you in the morning." She waved at him and left him to smile after her as she closed the door softly.

"Higgs?" he whispered to himself as he pulled the chair back to his desk and stared at the parchment rolls for a while. He then pulled himself together and closely inspected Tatiana's research.

He dearly hoped it wasn't the Finnish Double Toothed Hawk Eye, which even he felt happy had been extinct for nearly a century.

It sounded absolutely terrifying.

The sound of something pecking on his window made him look up and smile at the figure of a windblown Pigwidgeon, his brother Ron's owl. He quickly let in the bird and untied the letter from its leg and pulled an old biscuit from his pocket which he crumbled for the owl as he wondered why his little brother would write to him.

It wasn't like he had written him.

Less than a month ago.

Charlie dropped the last pieces of biscuit onto Pig's head and looked at the letter for a moment with big eyes not noticing the indignant look the small owl sent him.

Then he tore the letter open.

**I did cliffie! *evil laugh* I enjoy my life! It's deliciously entertaining!**


	10. Stormy Revelations

**Disclaimer: I if say guess, how many of you would be wrong? Yeah, still not mine, nor making money from it. I only write this because my mind forces me to! It's actually a lot like blackmailing – the "write or you'll go mad!"-sort of thing. It's awful.**

**Author's note: So yeah – here we go again, I guess... Sorry about the cliffie, I just read so many of those but never really that many chances to write them myself so... Just had to grab the chance guys! Although I'm not really sure why I apologize – damn you complained x)**

The Ridgebit Dragon Sanctuary, Romania. August 1st, 2002. Later the same evening.

He paused with the letter in one hand and the torn envelope in the other and took a deep breath. He might discover Tatiana's true identity and the thought scared him a bit.

And then he got impatient, dropped the envelope onto his desk and dropped down on his chair as he unfolded the parchment.

_Dear Charlie,_his brother wrote.

_I apologize for my embarrassingly late reply (Mum raised my better than this. Please don't tell her!), but I've been travelling a lot lately._

_As for your question:_

_An elderly witch, Susan Greenacre, disappeared on her vacation in Poland in March 2000. I don't know whether to say fortunately or unfortunately than that there's only Mione's disappearance that matches your witches time of disappearance. _

_I'm sorry I couldn't be to more of a help._

_To Mum's delight I do somehow manage to socialize outside work. I've been seeing Luna Lovegood for a while now (and before you ask, yes it is Xenophilius Lovegood's daughter, and yes, she is just as loony as him, but she's a really nice change from the things I see at work! But you probably knew about that with her practically writing a book about you and all... I'm _not_ jealous!) and I like the way things are going at the moment._

_Mum says she'll disown you if you don't show to the wedding, but Dad assures that she'll only be hurt. So I'll let your conscience decide for you._

_Ron._

_P.S. Still nothing but dragons? Really? I'm sure it's a very fulfilling job you have, but is it _satisfying_? I thought not._

Charlie put the letter down and couldn't help the feeling of disappointment. He had really hoped for some answers, but no – he wasn't that lucky.

Instead he shoved some old notes and letters around on his desk until he discovered some clean parchment he could write an to his brother on.

_Dear Ron,_

_don't worry about your late reply, I almost couldn't remember my question when you letter arrived._

_In a good, not accusing sort of way._

_But besides the pleasant news from home I'm afraid your letter didn't bring much help. Tatiana is a lot more like Herm_

Charlie's hand stilled.

Tatiana wasn't a lot _like_ Hermione Granger she bloody _was_ Hermione Granger!

And he actually remembered when she disappeared. All the extra patrols in the area and all the Hit Wizards and aurors the Ministry could spare – an amount that increased all because of her identity.

The papers went crazy when they caught on the the situation as well.

"_The Brightest Witch of Our Age Disappeared"_

_"Golden Trio Hermione Granger Feared Kidnapped"_

_"Did The Pressure Grow Too Heavy On Hermione Granger?"_

The list went on.

How he hadn't recognized her immediately when she had stumbled across them in May was nothing less than embarrassing.

He pushed his chair from his desk. Tat-Hermione said she would do some work after calming down the upset healer, so he rushed the few steps to her door. With his hand raised to knock Charlie was hit by a sudden streak of uncertainty. Not whether it was Hermione on the other side of the door, writing her reports like there was no tomorrow, but how to do this? How was he to drop this bomb on her? Should he be gentle about it? Should he try to see if she would remember if he gave her some hints?

But then again – how could he expect her to remember? The only thing she remembered were the texts and that was only when she reread them, she had told him that herself.

Should he refrain? Turn around and return to his room without telling her anything?

No, he had to let her know her name, his conscience demanded that he did.

But that only brought him back to square one: how?

Paolo came out from his and Max's room on his way to the showers. He started off by cheerily whistling his favorite Celestina Warlock melody but grew silent when he passed and gave his friend and boss a curious look.

Charlie didn't notice.

He had finally decided on how to to this – gentle and naturally.

He knocked determined on the door.

"Come in," a muffled voice sounded from the room. He opened the door and stepped in and found maybe-but-most-probably-Hermione sitting at her desk. Her fingers were a bit smeared with ink. "Coudln't wait to see me until the morning, could you?" she asked with a small smirk and a teasingly lifted eyebrow. He realized he had stared at her.

"Sorry, Hermione, I just wondered if I could see your report from yesterday. I can't make any sense from Paolo's wagon wreck-writing." He held his breath and waited for the reaction.

"Oh – sure. I really wish he was only half as good at writing as he is at drawing." She turned to a stack of parchment rolls in the corner of her desk. "Here." She held a roll out at her boyfriend with a smile, but he didn't take it. He couldn't move, only stare. Again. "Charlie, are you okay?" she asked, concern clear in her voice at his strange behaviour.

"I was wondering the same thing about you, Hermione." He apparently still had the ability to speak. Who would have thought.

"I fell perfectly al- OH!" Hermione's hands flew to her face and gaping mouth, the parchment dropped to the floor forgotten.

"Yeah..."

They stared at each other for a minute that felt closer to an eternity as Tatiana-Hermione absorbed the fact that the name felt righter than Tatiana ever had. "My name's Hermione? You know who I am? How?" Her voice had started out as a whisper but increased as the words stumbled from her lips.

"Yes, you are Hermione Granger. I remembered when I was writing a reply to a letter I received from my brother, Ron." Charlie gave her a reassuring smile and went to sit on her bed where he folded his hands and fixed his eyes on her face.

"So I knew your brother?" she asked slowly.

"You were great friends in Hogwarts. You even dated at some point," the last bit made him furrow his brow. Him dating his little brother's ex-girlfriend, who had been lost for several years, could easily grow weird. How was he supposed to introduce him to his parents?

And _why_ was he even considering that?

"When? For how long?"

Charlie had to think for a moment before realizing what they were talking about. "Afterwards. After the war for a brief period of time. Very brief actually..."

"What else do you know about me? No wait – parents! My family! Aren't they looking for me?" she rose from her chair and took a few hesitant steps towards him, her face guarded but hopeful.

"I'm afraid they're dead. They were killed shortly after the War. By Death Eaters. So you came back." He didn't know why he had chosen to tell her any more. He should have expected her questions. She always had questions.

"Came back from where?"

"Australia. You obliviated them and sent them away to protect them. But afterwards you came back and helped rebuild the wizarding community."

"Oh. What about friends then?" The hope that had died when he told her her parents had died lit back up.

"In school you were friends with my brother and a guy named Harry, Harry Potter. Don't you remember that?" She had to remember something – he had seen how she could cast spells he didn't even know from pure instinct. Surely she would remember Harry!

"No. Were they really my only friends?" She looked slightly disappointed and her enthusiasm had died down a bit when he had only named two friends.

"Not really. From what I understood you got some more when you recruited some of the other wizards and witches in the school for an army you started. That must've been in your fifth year... Dumbledore's Army are quite famous. You don't remember that either?" _Please, remember something, or this'll be too hard!_

"I don't remember anything! Why would we form an army? And while we were in school! What gave us the rights to do that?" He didn't notice how their voice grew in volume or how Hermione's voice cracked a bit at her last words.

"For Merlin's sake Hermione, why can't you remember anything? Your are a third of the Golden Trio! The smart one!" She was the know-it-all, she always had the answers!

"The Golden Trio? What does that even mean?" she spat indignantly and her lips curled in the shadow of a smile for the first time since he'd mentioned her name.

"What does?" Charlie spluttered. "You saved the entire wizarding society! And the muggle one as well! How can you not remember this? You saved the world!" He got up from the bed and walked up to Hermione, standing chest to chest with her, almost shouting his words at his last words.

"Okay!" Hermione's eyes were shooting daggers at him and he realized he had talked a bit down to her. "But I. Still. Don't. REMEMBER ANYTHING!" She punctuated every word with her finger poked into his chest and gave him a shove as she yelled the last part.

"Fine," Charlie hissed, "that's enough!" He drew his wand and Hermione watched him with big unbelieving eyes.

"What are you...?" She asked incredulously, staring as he directed the wooden stick at her. She took a few steps back and held her hands up in defence. "No, don't you dare – I told you I..."

"FINITE INCANTETAM!" He shouted words and watched as his wand sputtered some red and orange sparks. He looked back at her patiently as her chest heaved violently. "Do you remember now?" he asked softly.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID THAT!" she screamed, stepping up so her face was mere inches from his. "What if I didn't _want_ to remember? I honestly sounded like a miserable being! No friends, no family! Why, oh _why_ would I want... Why do I even try to explain this to you? Wizards!" Charlie felt a force pulling him by his shoulders, not letting him go before he was on the other side of the doorstep, where he watched the door slam in his face. He looked at it, contemplating for a moment.

"Does that mean you still don't remember?" He called to the witch on the other side.

"YES!" Her reply came back, a lot louder than he had expected, and he pulled his ear away from its position pressed against the door.

"Then let me in," he demanded. "I'm not done with you yet!"

"Yes, you are!"

Silence fell on him, and Charlie glared at the door, willing it to open, so he could go inside and explain why he had done as he did, and broken his promise.

She had to understand some things were more important than feeble promises given before all things were out in the open.

He stomped back into his room and slammed his door shut before walking over and dropping into his chair again. He drummed his fingers against the smooth wooden plane and considered his next step.

He had to bring back her memory.

But how?

It was a damn shame they didn't have any of the books about the war, so Hermione could read about what she did.

He had to get some books for her!

He took the letter he had begun writing to his little brother and tore the written part of it. Frowning he wondered who would be the best to recommend a book now when Hermione didn't want to talk to him. He decided on Bill and dipped his quill in the ink before letting it hover in the air above the torn parchment.

Should he tell about him recognizing Hermione? And how? The way he had already tried turned out to be a fluke, so it probably wasn't wise to try that tactic again. He groaned loudly and rubbed his forehead, then slammed his fist onto the desk as he discovered he had smeared ink from the quill on his forehead.

That was it – he wasn't going to tell anybody yet. This was way too difficult, and he wasn't used to handling difficult unless it meant nesting dragons. Right now he could without the least of doubt say he'd prefer handling dragons over witches.

_Dear Billy,_ he wrote instead and brightened a bit at the fact that the nickname would make his older brother scowl at the letter.

_I need some help to find a book... _

xXx

Tati-Hermione was lying on her bed staring intently on her ceiling and hoping it would somehow open so some kind of god could tell her just what she was supposed to do.

_Hermione Granger._

The name was so familiar, it felt so right and she hated it so much right now.

How could a name suddenly change so much?

She didn't know very much about this Hermione person, except that she participated in wars and battles and was apparently the brightest part of the Golden Trio. What ever that was.

She liked Tatiana with her dragon-passion and silent hard work better. She knew Tatiana, she was simple.

She was happy – had friends good enough to almost be family and a new boyfriend who kissed like a dream and made her blush with his jokes. Except when he made her scream and yell from anger.

Hermione's parents were dead and she only had two real friends, of which she highly suspected one not to care too much for her company considering she was his ex-girlfriend.

She rolled onto her side and shifted her stare to the wall. She bit her lip and didn't care about the strands of hair that fell into her eyes.

She really didn't care much for Hermione. She wanted to stay Tatiana and care for the dragons with her friends and Charlie.

She bit harder on her lips to keep from tearing up. It was the second time they had quarrelled like this, the last time being when he accused her of being a Death Eater which she had read about in a worn copy of _Voldemort – Evil's Rise and Fall. _But that was only about the first war, it didn't tell about her, it only told about death, destruction and the magnificent toddler, Harry Potter.

Wait! She let her chewed lip go and her eyes widened in realization. She had a friend in school named Harry – she was _friends_ with Harry Potter!

How weird was that?

She chuckled almost soundlessly and rolled onto her other side and looked into the dark of her room.

Hermione Granger was friends with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.

Tatiana just didn't want to fight with Charlie.

She would forgive him as soon as he asked for it!

**So, I'll be going home for my father's birthday for the weekend, so the next update wont be until sometime after... I have to write it first you know :P**


	11. The Beast Within

**Disclaimer: So yeah, no changes. Great surprise!**

**Author's note: This chapter was a bitch to write – at least the first half! It totally didn't want to be written and but up such a fight, that it made the entire chapter late! Bitch! Anyway – second half was surprisingly easy when I first started it.**

**I do not approve of lying to parents, but sometimes a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. And in Charlie's case that is avoiding being told off by his mother.**

**That big baby...**

The Ridgebit Dragon Sanctuary, Romania. August 2nd, 2002.

She had waited the entire day for Charlie to do something – say something – but nothing happened and the minutes ticked past in a terrifying speed and if Hermione looked out the window she would be able to see the bloody sky, coloured by the descending sun.

He had had occasions to talk to her. Breakfast had been a silent affair as usual, although the silence hadn't seemed as comfortable as she had grown accustomed to and the other dragon keepers kept throwing her and Charlie odd looks. She had then realized they had been louder than she had expected.

He was by the her office at lunch too – Helga's eggs had hatched and he had to register, which he did without a spare word to Hermione.

That had hurt.

Now she was beginning to dread the up-coming dinner. Dem had returned and was probably in the middle of cooking some Greek delicacy, and the others would come back too and they would all head in only to have to sit through another mealtime with no speaking and they would all look at her worriedly all the time.

By Merlin she hoped her premonition was wrong.

She needed someone to talk to her – to assure her that she was the same person as yesterday, that she hadn't magically changed overnight.

That couldn't happen could it? You couldn't just turn into another person just like that, right?

She shuddered suddenly horrified at all the possibilities magic provided, and at the feeling that she had known before she was cursed and lost her memory. She had done a lot of reading on _Obliviate_ but she hadn't found the knowledge she was looking for; was it possible to change personality due to the spell? Was she a different person now and if she was, would that mean she would change when she regained her memory? If she did?

Would Charlie still like her if she were Hermione instead of Tatiana – Hermione was his younger brother's ex-girlfriend.

_She_ was his younger brother's ex-girlfriend.

Oh, Merlin's socks!

Hermione felt suddenly breathless at the thought and she heard the quill crack in her hand as her grab tightened drastically.

The sound of voices in the yard made her drop the broken quill and jump from her seat, her heart hammering in her chest. _He_ was going to be with them outside, and she _had_ to know if he still wanted her – if he wanted Hermione too.

She left the stuffy room without a last glance at the work she had been so engrossed by mere minutes before her angsty little incident, and hoped with more force than she's expected that Charlie wouldn't turn her down.

She easily recognized his red haired head among the dark and blonds in the yard and smiled tentatively when she caught his eyes.

_Please, smile back!_

He averted his eyes and Hermione's heart dropped to the ground where it shattered into a million tiny pieces.

xXx

Dinner had been silent.

Silent and uncomfortable. Hermione hadn't eaten anything, only pushed her food around her plate and ignored the curious looks and concerned glances. She had left them at the first opportunity and stayed hidden in her room rereading her books and drawing angry doodles on a sheet of parchment, frustrated with herself for already having finished all the paperwork. Stupid efficiency.

Soft knocks on her door made her heart pick up and climb up in her throat.

"Yes?" she called after clearing her voice.

"Hi." Elias smiled, testing the waters, and entered the chamber when Hermione sighed and gestured for him to come inside. "I wondered if you wanted to talk?" It was a statement but came out sounding like a question, Elias' uncertainty obvious.

"What would I want to talk about?" she answered and felt a bit bad when he winced at her cold tone.

"I don't know." He gave her books a brief glance and decided to rest against the wall next to it. "Maybe you want to talk about your fight with Charlie?"

"There's nothing to talk about – he broke his promise and didn't apologize or feel bad about it." She sighed and ran a hand over her tied-back hair. "But I'm sorry it's creating such a tiresome atmosphere." She was touched that he wanted to help and normally she would have adored his clumsy attempts to talk about feelings and _being there for her_ but her anger and frustration were a lot greater than that and she found it very hard to find the patience needed to communicate with her friend. She needed him to leave soon.

"Normally," Elias started and Hermione felt the last bit of patience ooze from her body like sand between her fingers and took a deep breath to try and calm down. "Well – in my experience, fights involve two people, and it takes to people to work it out. Maybe you should try and talk to him?"

An with those words all Hermione's fond feelings were washed away and an ugly roaring beast of anger decided to take over her body and give Elias a piece of her mind.

"Well, in _my_experience," the beast said, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "Love takes two people – both of them feeling the feelings."

"What?" Elias' voice were very thin, and his face spoke loudly about how he wished he had misheard her.

"Why don't you go and fix your own unsolved business of _love _before trying to teach me something about it?"

She felt bad when she saw the tears welling up into Elias' eyes but she also felt relieved. Relived that she wasn't the only one to be in pain. And it really wasn't her fault that Elias wasn't man enough to tell Terence how he felt.

The angry beast inside of her smiled smugly and decided to deliver the finishing blow; "Be a bloody man and _tell_ him about it, if you ever want something to come out of this ridiculous infatuation of yours."

Elias apparated away with a loud crack and Hermione groaned. She hadn't needed to say the last bit and now she had probably scarred him for life.

Even the Tatiana persona was growing into an intolerable one.

The door swung open with a loud bam and Terence Higgs entered, his wand held tightly in his right hand, his eyes shooting daggers.

"What did you do to Elias? He was practically in tears!" He looked an awful lot like some of the dragons when infuriated, and it was surprisingly not funny.

"I just told him to grow a pair! I'm sick and tired of watching him walk around waiting for things to happen by themseves. And you! Merlin, you aren't the least bit better! You oblivious, insensitive bastard!" Her bad conscience had vanished as she spoke and realized just how little justification the man had. How _dared_ he show up and scold her, when he was so stupid and blind to his own life?

"Oblivious? What's that have to do with Elias?" Hermione raised an eyebrow and gave him a long look of 'Am I right, or am I right' and he frowned. "Never mind. I might be oblivious, but I'm not _that_ oblivious, _Hermione_."

The last word took her breath away and something cold and paralysing spread in her body.

"You know my name?" she whispered as she stared at her colleague with wide eyes. "You know who I am?"

"Of course I do, I'm not stupid."

"For how long have you known?" she asked, her voice growing stronger by the second.

"Since the beginning of course." He gave her a hard long look. "How could I not have known – you're the most famous witch in the world!"

"You knew all along – you knew before I did!" She stood and took a step towards the wizard without really knowing why. Terence frowned in confusion.

"Er... What?"

They stood for a long moment and stared at each other as she tried to sort out her thoughts and he tried to figure out what had just happened.

"Charlie just told me yesterday. I really can't remember anything past two years ago!"

Hiss eyes widened in realization, "We just thought you were hiding from the paparazzi and trying to live a life without everyone trying to get you autograph and stuff. We figured it was some bullshit story you made up, so we pretended to believe it. And with your connection to the Weasley family it seemed like a pretty good idea to hide out here with the dragons and with Charlie as a link to your old life and friends and suchlike. The big search for you back then could just be to make your story more plausible."

It was now Hermione's turn to frown in confusion and she took a step away from Terence, her eyes not leaving his face for even a moment.

"Who we?"

xXx

August 9th, 2002.

Charlie returned the serious gaze with one like it.

"I don't know Konstantin. We've just had old Helga hatch a new batch so you need to be completely certain that this is worth it."

"I've never been more sure in my entire LIFE!" Charlie fought the urge to cock a brow as he remembered all the times Konstantin had made him drop anything he was doing to inspect the new dragon species, the ghost haunting his room, or the fairy eggs he'd discovered in the garden.

All of them turning out to be something different completely.

As a matter of fact, Charlie had always somehow suspected Konstantin to some sort of distant cousin to the Lovegoods. Immigrating to Russia would seem something they would do.

"Konstantin, we're really busy back here. I don't think I can spare anyone." He was maybe exaggerating a bit, but there was some truth in it.

If anyone would have to go it would be him.

That meant that he probably wouldn't be able to make it to George's wedding the 15th.

And _that_ meant, that his mother would hunt him down or disown him, both things he would prefer to avoid.

He felt bad already.

"I found its nest." And that comment was the last nail in his coffin.

"Ill arrange a portkey for the day after yesterday. I don't know who it will be, but I'll bring someone. If we're going to inspect its nest two of us isn't nearly enough. As a matter of fact three is neither. If you get me killed, I will bring you with me."

"You just come to my cottage, and I'll show the way." The Russian smiled and disappeared as the flamed flashed green the last time and died down to red smouldering embers.

Charlie sat back in his armchair and hid his face in his hands.

"Who are you going to bring?" Charlie spread his fingers and smiled at the old wizard sitting on the sofa smoking his pipe.

"I don't know, Max. You? You know a lot about different breads, don't you? You would be convenient."

"Not with Oliver," Max said and gestured to the open window where said dragon was resting its head on the windowsill. "You know he won't let me go willingly, so he'll either be a pain back here or completely ruin our expedition and likely get us killed over over there." They sat for a moment in silent, deep thought. "I think you should bring Tatiana."

"I can't do that – she won't talk to me!" Charlie brought his hands down hard on the armrests and sighed at his own stupidity. Of course Hermione would be the best choice. She knew _everything_ about dragon breads and possibly a bit more.

"Then either make her talk to you or just don't. She's the only one we can spare back here. The twins are useless when split, Terence is your second in command so he'll be needed back here, Beth is the less illiterate person I have ever met,Elias is our healer plus his spell work isn't that good, and Paolo. Well that pretty much explains itself. You need Tatiana."

"I know," Charlie admitted in a low voice and wondered how it would work. Hopefully Konstantin would act as a buffer between them.

Hopefully she would stop being so bloody angry and explain to him just exactly _what_ was wrong.

Hopefully he would work up the balls to apologize to her.

He was a bloody idiot. Nothing more, nothing less.

"And you'll have to let your mother know."

_No, no – please no! Anything but Mum_, was the first thought running through his head.

"But she's gonna kill me," was the words that left him.

"As she ought to. She has sent you a dozen invitations to your brother's wedding. Not that I don't understand your need to go to Russia, but the both of us know that she won't."

"Sometimes I'm not that sure whether you're on my side or not. This is one of those situations."

"Floo your mother and tell her you won't be able to make it to the wedding. Don't postpone telling her – she doesn't deserve that." The older wizard pushed off the deep sofa and left the room after petting the sleeping dragon on its scaly head.

"Bloody conscience," Charlie muttered and stepped back to the fireplace and took a handful of floo-powder. He took a deep breath before flinging the powder into the dying embers and loudly disclaiming. "The Burrow." He sighed again and stuck his head into the flames.

"Mum?" He heard a loud squeal and something crashing and then the sound of running before his mother burst into the sitting room, excitement clear on her face.

"Charlie, dear! How nice of you to floo us. How are you?"

"I'm fine, Mum. Actually I don't have that much time, I'm just flooing you to tell you that... um..." He couldn't say it. It was already obvious how his mother's enthusiasm was replaced by The Scowl – the worst of its kind; The Disappointed Scowl. "I'm sorry,Mum, but I have to go to Russia and make sure that some dragon aren't going to attack anything. I won't be able to make it to the wedding."

And just like that The Scowl turned into The Worried Look.

"All by yourself? Charlie, that sounds awfully dangerous! Why don't you come home for the wedding and do it later with more keepers?"

"Mum – I have to do it now! And I'm not going alone," _dear Merlin, forgive me for lying to my Mum_, "my girlfriend's going with me, and she's a real talented witch."

Merlin was never going to forgive him, he realized when he watched as his mother's worried expression turned overly excited in a heartbeat.

"Your girlfriend? How come you haven't told about her before? When are we going to meet her? Who is she?"

"Yes, Mum, my girlfriend. And I haven't told you about her because it's still very new. And I have no idea when-"

"Molly, where's the – oh, hullo Charlie. How're things in Romania?" Charlie felt a great deal of relief as he father walked into the room and diverted his mother's attention for a moment.

"He's not coming to the wedding, but he's gotten himself a girlfriend," Molly exclaimed and looked back at her son. "Now tell me who she is!"

"You finally found yourself a gal, did you son? I guess I owe George a Sickle after all."

"Arthur, you know what I said about gambling – and with your own _son_! You should be ashamed!" Charlie and his father shared a look and smiled. "Your girlfriend, Charlie!"

"Um, yes." Charlie panicked slightly as he contemplated whether to give them the old story or tell 'the truth'. "Er – hullo, Dad. Well," the old story, "her name's Tatiana, she's Romanian and she's a dragon keeper too, although she mostly do paperwork. But that's because Max is acting as a surrogate mother for Oliver, a Antipodean Opaleye hatchling that-"

"Girlfriend, Charlie!"

"Er, yes. Well, she's worked with us for a couple of months and her spell work are brilliant-"

"Personal information."

"Well, she's an orphan, and only goes by her first name because she's- er... still mourning the death or her parents. They died in a landslide."

"Oh, that poor thing!"

"And, yeah... I think that's about it."

"When will we meet her?"

"Oh, er... I don't know, Mum, but I actually have to go now – I have to set up things so Tatiana and I can leave first thing in the morning, you know."

"Of course dear. Give everyone our regards, and let Tatiana know, that we look forward to meeting her one day, right Arthur?"

"Yes, Molly. Take care of yourself, will you Charlie?"

"Yeas, and you too. Good luck with the wedding, I'll send George and Angelina a present. Bye." Charlie pulled his head out of the fire and too a deep breath to calm his heart.

Al right, all he had to do now was informing Hermione that she was going to Russia with him

Bloody perfect.

**All that lying – and to his own mother! If she knew she would be so ashamed!**


	12. Frozen Plains

**Disclaimer: Yo, yo, yo! Yeah, still no changes and it will probably stay that way for the rest of my story too :S**

**Author's note: This and two more chapters! I'm excite! And!**

**We're going to Siberia (does enyone beside me remember Vengaboys? We're going to Ibiza? No? Am I embarrassing now?) and you will all meet the fabulous Konstantin!**

**Ooh! And a great thank you to VivoRisataAmore for beta'ing my chapter! Apparently all my friends have gone out and gotten a life all of a sudden :S Not that she doesn't have a life – she just have a few moments to spare for me.**

**I am currently accepting friend requests! I really need a new social circle...**

The Ridgebit Dragon Sanctuary, Romania. August 10th, 2002.

Usually Charlie Weasley felt a great deal of pride in the fact that he never waited for tomorrow to do anything he could do today. This morning he wished yesterday hadn't been the exception.

For some reason it was really hard to gather the strength to tell Hermione they were going to Russia. The two of them. Alone.

Shit, he really didn't want to have to do that.

He looked up from the portkey application he was filling out on the dining table when he heard people coming down the stairs. His stomach made a funny twisting movement when Hermione stepped into the room right in front of him.

"Her-Tatiana," he corrected himself when Beth stepped out after her. "I need you to go to Russia with me to check out the observation Konstantin has made." There, he'd said it.

"Russia?" She looked a bit taken aback by his sudden order. It probably had something to do with him not talking to her for the past week.

"Well, Siberia to be more exact."

"Siberia isn't exactly exact either. Oh, and they already know." She pulled a chair out and sat down heavily next to Beth.

"Well, it's a bit more exact than- what? Who knows what?" Charlie shot a worried glance at Beth who seemed completely uninterested and Max who entered the room.

"Everyone. And they know about me, Hermione."

Charlie wasn't ashamed to admit he gaped at Hermione's bold declaration. His gaze shot first to Beth and then to Max who both seemed just as cavalier about it and he frowned.

"You guys knew?"

"All along," Max said with a friendly smile and sat next to Beth.

"All along? Does that mean?" He looked at Hermione for answers.

"Yes, they knew before you told me. Did you know too?" Her tone was mildly accusing, as if she suspected that he hadn't known, but still needed him to confirm it.

"I had absolutely no idea, or well, I had this feeling that you were somehow familiar, but I couldn't decide who or what it was about you. I really didn't realize before I started writing that second letter to Ron-"

"Second letter?"

"Um, well... I might have asked him for information about lost witches in Eastern Europe. To see if the aurors knew more than I did," he defended himself and shifted uncomfortably under Hermione's heavy gaze.

"Right." She fidgeted with a button on her shirt and looked down at the table in front of her. "So we're going to Siberia?"

"Yeah. Konstantin found a nest, so I figured we'd go now and check it out."

"Now?"

"Well, tomorrow. Just pack the necessities, and perhaps some of the notes I'm sure you have about dragon breeds. We need to identify it when we get there and decide whether it needs to be moved to a Sanctuary and if it does, which it should be."

Hermione nodded. "I'll be ready tomorrow then." They looked each other in the eyes for a moment, her face not showing any sort of emotion. Charlie wasn't sure if he liked that or not.

But he had to admit, that if you looked past the surprise and harsh tones, Hermione had been surprisingly ready to go to another country with him, alone.

It was going to be a long trip he was afraid.

xXx

August 11th, 2002.

Charlie was shifting back and forth on his feet sometimes pausing to scratch his neck. Hermione was crouching next to him, sorting through her bag while inwardly cursing the uncomfortable atmosphere that never seemed to leave them lately.

"When does the portkey leave?" she asked again. She knew the answer but the silence had to be broken.

"In about five minutes." Charlie cleared his voice and shifted his weight back to his left foot. "You sure you have everything?"

"Of course I'm sure, I checked my bag three times back in my room. I'm just sorting the stack of books that fell over when I came down here." Hermione hadn't meant to snap, but Charlie didn't exactly make it easy for her to remain calm and collected.

"Right."

What? Not even an apology? She clenched her jaw and willed the tears to return to the place they came from – she would not begin to cry now!

The noises of Charlie shifting restlessly were the her soundtrack as she rearranged her spare clothes in the pit of her bag and hoped that the damn portkey.

Until finally; "I think we should get ready now."

"Perfect," she replied, threw her back over her shoulder and got to her feet. She looked at the old glove Charlie was holding in his hand and sighed as she grabbed the ring finger.

"Ready?" Charlie asked and she looked up to give him a sharp reply but found that she didn't know how to speak.

There was just something in his eyes, something emotional and unfamiliar, that made Hermione certain that she would stutter if she tried to speak now. She nodded instead and ended up staring confused and uncomprehending into Charlie's eyes until she felt like a hook pulled her forward from her navel.

_Somewhere in Siberia_

She landed on her bum with less elegance than she had hoped and groaned quietly in pain.

"You must be new," a familiar deep voice boomed and Hermione suddenly had a hand in her immediate vision. She looked up and found a man with the biggest moustache she'd ever seen smiling down at her. "I'm Konstantin."

She smiled back and grabbed his hand so he could help her to her feet. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that Charlie had managed to land on his feet.

Bloody typical.

"I'm Hermione," she said before considering if it was wise to blurt out her name to every stranger that acted friendly towards her. "I've heard you've observed some unusual dragon activity lately."

"I sure have," the old wizard boomed with a throaty laugh, and Hermione noticed that his hair wasn't the same impressive black as his huge moustache. He let go of Hermione's hand and turned to face the other newcomer. "Charlie!" He threw his arms wide open and enveloped his friend in a big hug. "I'm so very pleased that you have finally decided to come and see my wonder with your own eyes!"

"The feeling is mutual, old friend," Charlie laughed and patted the Russian on the back. "And I'm very excited to see that wonder of yours. To see if it _actually_ is a wonder or just another of your projects."

"Ah," Konstantin said with a big grin and punched Charlie's shoulder, making the redhead flinch. "Always so distrusting. Always needing to see it with own eyes. You have not changed in any way. I am not disappointed! But now we will go inside, and I will tell you about Julia and then we will apparate tomorrow morning!" The Russian wizard turned on his heel and walked into the small cabin without the others. Charlie sighed and picked up his bag from where he dropped it before Konstantin assaulted him and followed his friend. Hermione went after him, feeling oddly left out.

"Come in, come in. Sit down! Will you have any tea? I know Charlie wants some, he always do. He's English. And you Hermione? Do you want any?" She smiled, feeling a bit confused but settled in a flowered sofa next to Charlie, making sure to keep space between them.

"I would like some tea too, please. I'm actually English too."

"Oh, that is great! I will bring you some tea! And Julia, she is so beautiful, I'm sure you both remember all I told about her on the floo, da?"

"Of course. Actually, Hermione have made some research as to what breed it's likely to be."

"Very interesting," Konstantin declared and poured water into three cups he summoned with a flick of his wand. He pointed at them and muttered something Russian under his breath before making them float over to the waiting guests. Hermione took her floating cup and looked around in the room while Charlie filled Konstantin in on her research. Apparently she wasn't allowed to do the talking.

The room wasn't very big and consisted of a sole room with a small tea kitchen, the sofa with a matching chair and coffee table, a small dining area and a bed. And bookcases filled with books, so many she had to compare it to the library rather than her own room back in Romania. In the furthest corner was a small desk filled with loose pieces of parchment and books stacked randomly in the corners. A map hung on the wall above it, marked with different colours in different areas. She wanted to go and inspect it, but had better manners than that.

She tuned back to the conversation when Konstantin started talking.

"I think she maybe has eggs. In her nest. I didn't noticed that she returned to that area before watching her for many months. I tried to move with her when she flied, but she moves around in a great area and my apparating skills is still not so very good. What we will do tomorrow is we will apparate in short and in many turns and then we will camp and we will move closer so you can observe her at the next day, da?"

"That sounds reasonable."

"Good! I will show you on my map where she is and we will go!" Konstantin jumped from his chair and was by the desk in three long strides. Hermione followed him quickly, carefully remembering cataloguing every piece of information Konstantin shared. If she was to determine what sort of dragon she would have to know things like how far she travelled from her nest to gather food, what she gathered, if she allowed other dragons to enter her territory, and things like that. Charlie watched his friend explain with his arms crossed and a deeply patient look on his face, as if he was listening to an excited child.

Konstantin moved on to introduce her to some of the breeds he was contemplating and started pulling books out from his bookcase to show her pictures and long descriptions he had to translate from Russian for her. Charlie went back to the sofa where he pulled some parchment rolls from his bag he started to read when Hermione transfigured her teacup into a chair so she and Konstantin could six next to each other at the desk, where they started a heated discussion concerning the likeability that _Julia_ was some presumed extinct breed.

And Hermione had to admit how easy time passed.

Suddenly the air was filled with spice smell and she realized that they had actually both had lunch and tea that the sun was just only hanging above the horizon. They had some sort of gullasch Charlie had cooked, and Hermione realized she might have been a bit worried as to what they would do about food. The meal was tasty though, so she pushed those thoughts away. And frowned as new ones came forth.

"Sleeping arrangements!"

Konstantin looked up from his bowl and shifted his eyes between Hermione and Charlie. "Did you not bring your tent Charlie?" he asked.

"Of course. I just forgot to tell Hermione about it – the packing grew a big rushed."

It wasn't a lie.

Exactly.

They had been a bit rushed in the end but he had had plenty of time to tell Hermione about the tent, he wasn't sure how she would react and he wanted them to be on, perhaps not friendly, but at least decent terms when they left.

The glare Hermione fixed him with before blessing her plate with her full concentration wasn't exactly uplifting, Charlie noticed with regret. He would have to talk to her, clean the air. He really didn't feel like doing that.

xXx

Hermione watched as Charlie raised the tent and hid her surprise when she entered a big room with four bunk beds. She went over to the one furthest away from the door and started pulling out books from her bag, sorting them on the bottom bunk. She tried hard not to listen to Charlie moving around behind her.

It wasn't easy.

She decided it would be easier to ignore her boss if she was reading, and climbed to the top bunk with some notes Konstantin had lent her. She was in the middle of a long tirade stating the Julia had to be a Moravian Dark Skin when the sound of someone clearing their voice made her look up. Charlie was looking up on her, standing with a safe distance to her bed.

"Yes?" she asked, not sure whether to feel proud of ashamed by the amount of ice in her voice.

"Hermione," Charlie started, obviously contemplating how to state his business. "Do you remember telling me once that when you read books now that you've read before it feels like you're rereading them. Like you remember what they're all about?"

"Yeah, that's right," she nodded.

"Well then, I got these for you." He walked up to the bed and pushed four books onto the bunk next to her before turning and walking back to the small dining area, where he had spread his collection of notes and books.

Hermione put down Konstantin's notes and pulled the books onto her lap.

_The Second War_ the first one was called. It had a silver mask on the front page and was written by someone called Herbert Bucksware.

_Death Eaters and The Order Of The Phoenix: The differences?_ by Narcissa Malfoy and Andromeda Tonks. The names made Hermione smile and wonder why warmth spread in her stomach.

The third one made her breath catch in her throat as she suddenly looked down at her own smiling face accompanied by a smiling redhead that looked a lot like Charlie and a boy with dark hair, glasses and a weird scar on his forehead.

_The Golden Trio: The Youths That Saved Us All_ it was called, written by someone called Minerva McGonagall.

The last book was obviously about her and the two boys again, but she could immediately spot the different attitude. _The Ups And Downs Of The Golden Trio_ this one was called and Hermione had a feeling that this _Rita Skeeter_ wasn't her biggest fan.

The picture wasn't exactly flattering anyway.

She looked at the books now spread out in front of her for several minutes, a lot of them spent looking intently at the picture on the cover of McGonagall's book. They looked happy and trusting and so very young, she almost couldn't recognize herself.

"Um, Charlie," She called after some long breaths that failed to calm her as she intended for them to do. "... Do you... Do you want me to remember?"

"Er... What?" Charlie looked her from across the room, but she could still almost _feel_ his confusion.

"Do you want me to remember being Hermione? Do you prefer her over Tatiana?" she tried to explain, moving her gaze to the books in front of her.

"I'm sorry – prefer her over who?"

"Would you prefer that I was Hermione?" She felt the tears welling in her eyes but kept talking. "That I could remember my life before we met back in Romania? Would you like that-"

"Listen, Hermione-Tatiana-Whatever!" Charlie interrupter her and left the books and parchment on the table to walk over to her bed. "I want to help you do what you want to do! If you want to remember how it was like to be Hermione, then I will bloody well help you remember! I don't prefer one you over the other, I just prefer you."

"Oh," she said, feeling how a smile grew. "That made _absolutely_ no sense, whatsoever," she admitted and burst into chuckles.

"I know, and I meant every word." Charlie smiled back and reached up to touch her hand. She let him take it and lace their fingers together before leaning down and catching his lips with hers. Charlie pulled her closer with his free hand around the nape of her neck and he kissed back with intent.

Merlin, she had missed this.

"I'm sorry," she whispered against his lips, not caring about her awkward position and that her back would start screaming at her to move in a minute. "I think I've been having a existential crisis lately. I hope you don't mind."

"I wouldn't mind if you had only talked to me about it. I'm a wizard, not a mind reader, and I'm really bad at understanding witches if things aren't explained down to the smallest detail."

"I'm sorry. I won't keep it from you the next time." She smirked and winked before leaning away. "No more secrets."

"Um, in that case," Charlie started and Hermione promised herself that she would never ever date anyone ever again. "I have something to tell you."

"What?" The cool had returned to her voice and Charlie looked up at her, shocked and a little taken aback by her mood swing.

"No. No! Oh, it's nothing like that! You know those sheep you were herding when you still though you were a muggle?"

"Yeah?" Hermione answered hesitantly. This was either going to be a very awkward conversation or she would be very embarrassed for thinking the worst.

"We think Helga ate them!"

She would have to go with embarrassed. Of course he wasn't the type to _get it on_ with sheep.

"She... ate them?" Charlie nodded with an apologizing grimace. "Oh. Okay, I guess it's for the better. Now at least someone got good use of them."

Charlie gave her a weird look that she only returned with a big grin. She didn't bother explaining just how little she cared for the sheep now. She just sighed happily and went back to reading the notes from Konstantin.

She would look at the books at some other time.


	13. The Long Road Home

**Disclaimer: Take a wild guess...**

**Author's note: I'm done writing. This story I mean (gosh – I don't think I'm ever gonna stop **_**writing**_**) and I'll post the last chapter next week! Excite! **

**This chapter start a bit slow, but you'll get a treat at the end ;)**

Hermione hadn't slept that good for a very long time. Certainly not while she and Charlie were fighting, and she had still been quite shaken up about Irina and Stefan's death before that. To conclude the thought she hadn't slept that good since she discovered the world of magic.

She didn't know if it was sad, and she really didn't care, because Charlie woke her up with a big smile and a steaming cup of tea in his hand.

Like the cups they had forgotten about the previous night, when they suddenly found themselves too busy with reclaiming the other's mouth and body to care about something as trivial as tea.

All in all, Hermione had gotten a good nights sleep and was more than happy to accept the offered teacup with a smile and a close-mouthed peck on Charlie's lips.

"Good morning," she whispered and sipped her tea, careful not burn her tongue.

"And to you." Charlie winked cheekily and went to the desk, where he started shoving all the books they had pushed to the ground into his bag. "You ready to go out and find that mystery dragon?" he asked with a brief look up from his packing.

She contemplated sticking her tongue out at him to get his attention, but decided she was bigger than that and quickly made all of her books and notes disappear into her bag.

They had a small breakfast and left the tent, which Charlie took down and neatly folded with a series of swings flicks of his wand.

"Wizards are horribly lazy, you know," Hermione commented from her position rested against Konstantin's ragged old hut.

"It would be stupid not to use the resources available," Charlie replied with a smirk over his shoulder. Hermione rolled her eyes and went to make sure Konstantin was up and ready to leave.

He was.

"Ho do we do this?" Charlie asked when Hermione and the other wizard left the hut and charmed the door to stay locked until they got back.

"Apparition! We will over to the hill there," Konstantin replied cheerily and pointed to a hill in the horizon.

Hermione opened her mouth to tell that she had no idea what apparition meant but was interrupted.

"Well," Charlie said just as cheerily as Konstantin. "Let's do it!"

Before Hermione could say anything two loud cracks sounded and she was left alone staring at the spots previously occupied by her fellow dragon keepers. She looked at the hill where they were supposed to apparate to and squinted, trying to make out the two figures she suspected would be there. She couldn't make them out though.

A new crack alerted her of the return of one of the wizards.

She found Charlie to be looking at her with raised eyebrows. "What are you waiting for?"

"When do you think I learned to _apparate_?" she asked coolly and placed her hands on her hips.

"Er," Charlie said confusedly. "I dunno? In seventh year in Hogwarts I guess?"

"As I suspect. And what does that mean to my current ability to apparate?"

"I – oh!" Charlie's eyes widened in realization. "Why didn't you say anything? We could have practised back in the Sanctuary."

"I wasn't aware of the possibility, obviously." She gave him a small tired smile. "Can't you just – I dunno – take me with you?"

"Of course!" Charlie pulled her close and enveloped her in his arms. He smiled down at her, pressed a kiss to her forehead and apparated her with him.

He kept her close when they landed and tightened his arms even more when her knees buckled a bit.

"I think I'd prefer to able to do it myself," she said and pulled out off his arms.

"Not enough control over your actions?"

She smirked at him and shook her head. "Not nearly."

xXx

Hermione had gotten better at Side-Along Apparition as they travelled through the barren fields and didn't stumble at all when they finally got close enough to Julia's nest.

Konstantin pointed to a small mountain about a kilometre away.

"There she is," he declared, paternal pride thickening his voice. "Julia, my beautiful Moravian Dark Skin."

Charlie pulled out two pairs of binoculars from his bag and handed one of them to Hermione after giving her a few instructions so she knew how to use them.

He adjusted his pair till he got a perfect vision of a big dragon with dark skin, that shimmered golden in the sunlight. She was breathing fire on the nest containing what looked to be seven black eggs, oblivious to the witch and wizards watching her from afar.

"She is indeed beautiful," Hermione said beside him, without removing her binoculars. "But she's not a Dark Skin."

Konstantin directed a very insulted glare at the short witch. "Yes she is," he said through thinned lips.

Hermione finally dropped the binoculars and looked back at the Russian. "No she isn't."

"She is!"

"She really isn't."

The following staring contest reminded Charlie of those his mum and the twins had had years back, when Molly wanted the boys to confess to one of their pranks and they had chosen to feign innocence. Fred and George had usually won the competitions but they still admitted their deeds afterwards before running into hiding, laughing loudly at Molly's angry outbursts.

Charlie didn't doubt for a second that Hermione would win this competition though – she had mastered the Molly Weasley Stare quicker than he thought possible and Konstantin hadn't had the possibility to grow the same resistance that the twins had possessed.

"Then if she isn't a Dark Skin, what is she?" the old wizard asked after several long moments. Charlie recognized Hermione's triumphant smile that flickered on and off her face, but only because he knew it would appear. It always did when she won a discussion.

"I have several suggestions, but a cross between a Norwegian Ridgeback and a Siberian White Tooth would be my best guess."

Konstantin glared at her before snorting. "Ridiculous! The colour of her skin is completely wrong for that breed and the ridges that she has will not make sense with White Tooths."

"The combination of the Ridgeback's brown skin and the grey of the White Tooth's explains Julia's colour perfectly. And of course she would have some sort of ridges when she's part Ridgeback – even if White Tooths don't have any. Ridges aren't exactly a recessive gene."

Konstantin glared some more, then he harrumphed and turned to face Charlie on his other side. "What do you think, friend?"

Charlie looked at Konstantin. Then he looked at Hermione over the older wizard's shoulder. Both were giving him looks of promise – promise of intense pain if he didn't agree with them.

"I think we need to get a bit closer so we can get a better look at her." It wasn't as much a suggestion as a command, and one the other two eagerly complied to, as they stuffed their belongings back into the backpacks and started walking towards the dragon's nest.

20 minutes later Charlie wished that they had brought brooms, even if Konstantin was just as horrible on them as Hermione and it would be stretching Charlie's abilities a bit too far to fly with two extra passengers. But this walking around business wasn't something Charlie was used to. Not with apparation and the convenience of broomsticks.

He was eternally happy that he wasn't a muggle. Their ways were incredibly inconvenient. At this point he couldn't wait for the day to be over, so they could go back to where they had raised the tent. Hermione had argued that if they made everything ready beforehand it would be more convenient when they finished observing and decided it was time for dinner and sleep. He had shaken his head at the time but now, with blisters forming on his heels he decided that she once again had proven to be his superior when it came to being practical.

He could do with a long warm bath too. That wasn't going to be possible though, and he would just have to settle with a rushed dip in the stream they had camped next to.

It was going to be bloody cold.

"I could eat some lunch now," Hermione informed and pulled Charlie from his thoughts.

"Me too," he replied, all of a sudden noticing the empty feeling in his stomach.

"Who brought the lunch I packed?" Hermione looked expectantly at the two wizards which looked sheepishly at each other.

"You?" Charlie asked her after a long loaded pause.

"Of course I didn't – I made it! Charlie do you mind going back for it? It will take too long for Konstantin with his poor apparation abilities," the wizard in question scowled at her, "and I'll just put a silencing charm up at the area so Julia won't hear you."

Charlie nodded and waited for Hermione to speak the needed word and apparated as soon as she had formed the last syllable of her soft spoken "M_uffliato_".

Charlie appeared with the familiar crack and smiled at the tent that had brought him and Hermione back together. Kinda.

And then he found himself lying face-down immobilized on the ground. He almost hadn't registered the shouted "_Petrificus Totalus_". The he was turned around and looked into eerily familiar shocked blue eyes.

"Charlie?"

Charlie could hear some movement and a few muttering voices before he found himself able to move. He sat up and smiled to his younger brother. "Hullo Ron." a brief look around showed several other wizards and a couple of witches, all dressed in the official auror-robes. He didn't recognize any of them besides his brother and "Harry – you too?"

Harry Potter held his hand out and helped Charlie to his feet. "Fancy meeting you here, Charlie," he said and grinned at the older wizard.

"Not that I'm sorry to stumble across you, Charlie," Ron said, "but exactly why are you here?"

"I'm working of course. An old colleague of mine observed an unregistered dragon so my colleague and I came here to check on the situation." A thought occurred to him. "But what are you doing here? What about the wedding? Mum's gonna have your hide if you don't show!"

"The wedding was yesterday," Harry enlightened.

"No need to worry on our behalf, we know Mum probably would kill every one of us if two – almost three- of her sons didn't show at a family wedding. George did make a lot of jokes on your behalf though."

"Three?"

"I proposed to Ginny," Harry said with a big grin. "She said yes."

"Which reminds me," Ron interrupted before Charlie could congratulate his brother's friend. "That Mum told all of us that she only let you off the hook because you were doing something with your _girlfriend_." Charlie dearly wanted to wipe the shit-eating grin of his brother's face. "I don't exactly see that girlfriend of yours – what was she called?"

"Tatiana," Harry inserted.

"Right – Tatiana." Charlie was aware that Ron as the youngest brother hadn't had the possibility to tease his brothers as they had teased him when they grew up, and he really wanted him to have some triumphant moments with him rubbing his brother's face in the dirt. He really didn't want that brother to be him and the dirt to be Tatiana, nee Hermione.

"Not that it's any of you business, but the colleague I was talking about, the one I came with, that's Tatiana."

"Brilliant!" Ron looked over at Harry who nodded and went to talk to the group of aurors who had settled on transfigured chairs in a cluster near the tent. "Then we'll camp here and meet her."

"Um," Charlie was suddenly caught in a situating he hadn't anticipated and and didn't want to experience. "I don't think that's a very good idea-"

"Don't be ridiculous! That's a bloody brilliant idea!"

"But there's something that you don't understand!"

"Yeah – what's that?" Ron was looking at his big brother with a patient smile and Charlie hated that the woman he fancied, and perhaps a bit more than that, happened to the woman who broke his brother's heart all those years ago.

"Um, actually... Tatiana she's, well- Tatiana isn't actually her name... Er, it's just that-"

The crack of someone apparating made the aurors jump to their feet and fix their wands at the spot where two persons suddenly appeared with a speed that stunned Charlie for a brief moment. Then he snapped his attention back to his younger brother who looked as if he had just seen a ghost, which was pretty much the case.

"Hermione," a hoarse shout behind them sounded, and a dark-haired person rushed past him and engulfed said witch in a big hug, quickly followed by a red-headed wizard that had moments ago been standing right next to Charlie.

Konstantin looked at Charlie with panic in his eyes and apparated.


	14. The End Is The Beginning

**Disclaimer: Really? You actually want me to say it again? Forget it!**

**Author's note: This is it. This is the end. I really like this story, but I'm glad it's over – it took up a lot of my thoughts and a lot of my time. I hope you'll enjoy the way my story ends, and **_**please**_** don't ask me to continue – I think it's pretty done the way it is - I like it when you don't get the complete package but have to come up with the details yourself... And now I'm being a tease - just read!**

**But before that: A well deserved thank you to VivoRisataAmore for once again taking the time to beta my stuff! It's so nice when you don't have to force your friends to do it!**

**Love y'all - you been awesome!**

Charlie hadn't been very quick while Hermione was waiting so she had forced Konstantin to apparate back with her to tell the slow wizard to hurry up. And by forced she of course meant convinced by the use of proper argumentation and not sticking her wand in his face and telling him to do his worst.

That would be rude of her.

Hermione didn't know why she had suddenly become so scared on Charlie's behalf either. She just had this _feeling_ that something would happen to him if she wasn't there to save him.

She hadn't considered that she might the one in actual danger, she realized as to strange men tried to strangle her.

They had scared her too. Running at her, shouting her name like that. They did seem somehow familiar though.

"Hermione, I can't believe it's you!" The strangler with dark hair pulled away from her and Hermione spotted a lightning shaped scar on his forehead.

She felt like hitting herself on the head. It was the two boys from the books Charlie had given to her the evening before, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley. Her friends.

Harry smiled to her, relief so obvious that Hermione couldn't get her tongue to work properly, so she just smiled back.

"I missed you so much, we all did," the man she suspected was Ron whispered against her hair. He loosened his hold on her and smiled down at her. He was Ron – he looked too much like Charlie not to be. "Where have you been all of this time? We spent so much looking for you – we thought the worst! But we never stopped." His voice were thick and Hermione saw tears emerging in his eyes. "We never stopped looking, we never gave up hope."

Hermione smiled tentatively back and tried to get a glimpse at Charlie, but Harry went over to him and pulled him away while talking to him in a voice so low Hermione couldn't hear it.

"For a long time I though it was my fault," Ron said and she switched her attention back to him. "I didn't understand why you broke up with me, and then so soon after you just disappeared. I thought that maybe if I had fought for you, for our relationship, you wouldn't have left. I spent a lot of time with George after, we would get pissed from Firewhiskey and pour our hearts out, but he began to move on and I tried to too, but it was so hard! You have to understand, I've loved you for so long, since we were thirteen or something and when we finally happened we ended so quickly, and I'm sorry but I must admit that I blamed you for a long time! Merlin, I'm so sorry Hermione!" Tears had started running down his cheeks and Hermione instinctively reached out and and took his hand.

"It's alright, Ron," she said and hoped that he would stop crying.

"It it, but it isn't at the same time, and this... It's tearing me apart! You have to understand – I hadn't given up hope, but you had turned me away last time we spoke, and Luna was just there all along. Listening and consoling me. She pulled me out of the black hole I dug myself into, and she made me want to live again, real honest to Merlin live, not the pathetic parody I upheld. I realized just how many people I hurt with my pain and behaviour and I tried my best to right my wrongs. I'm really sorry Hermione, but I just can't go back. I'm so happy where I am in my life and I just can't return to those- what I'm trying to say Hermione," Ron looked her deep in the eyes, emotion making his voice shake and his hands tremble when he took her other hand. "I'm breaking up with you. This is me getting over you."

Hermione nodded as she tried not to let the weirdness of the situation overwhelm her. "When you say Luna," she said after a moment of silence, "do you mean Luna Lovegood by any chance?"

"Um," Ron said with a confused frown. "Yeah?"

Hermione nodded ad thought for a moment.

"Do you think you could get me her autograph?"

"Why would you ask for an autograph, Hermione? She dedicated _Fiery Passion_ to you, don't you remember?"

Hermione remembered the dedication in the beginning of the book perfectly but she had always thought that it referred to Charlie since his last name in the story was Otter, she had had no idea she was the otter in question.

"To one of my dearest friends, the one that never believed me but always stood by my side, Otter, this one's for you?"

"That's the one," Ron nodded.

"I had no idea." She bit her lip and looked at Ron thoughtfully. "Do you think you could get her to sign my copy then?"

Ron let go of her hands and withdrew his wand in a movement so quick Hermione didn't realize before she found the tip of it and pressed against her forehead. "Who are you?" Ron said, his voice cold and hurt and Hermione really didn't know what to say, because she highly doubted he would believe she really was Hermione.

"Ron!" The voice was familiar, and Hermione drew a big relieved breath when Ron's arm was pulled away, and big arms wrapped around her.

"Charlie," she sighed and leaned against her boyfriend even if she didn't dare move her eyes from Ron's furious face.

"Bloody hell, Ron! What were you thinking – you can't do shit like that?" Charlie sounded just as furious as Ron looked.

"Who is she, and what happened to my Hermione?" Ron tried to fight Harry's restricting hold and Hermione really felt like crying. He looked so heartbroken behind all that anger.

"This _is _Hermione, you bloody git! What – did you expect that she would just show up sometime, perfectly fine and remembering everything?"

Ron narrowed his eyes, "What do you mean remember?" Both him and Harry looked at Hermione in a way that made her feel strangely naked.

"Stop doing that," she told them and the corner of Harry's mouth twitched at her bossy tone.

"She's been obliviated at some point. We don't know by who or when though."

"Some time two years ago is all I know. Two and a half I think is more accurate."

"That's when you disappeared," Harry said and smiled sadly to Hermione.

"Well, what are we waiting for then?" Before Hermione or Charlie could say anything to Ron he had whipped his wand forth again and spoken the all too familiar "_Finite Incantatem_."

"People have _got_ to stop doing that," Hermione said and crossed her arms.

"It didn't work?" Ron looked severely disappointed. "You try then, Harry, you got more power than me anyway."

Harry looked inquiringly at Hermione who glared back.

"There will be no more _finites_," she declared. "Charlie tried already and I see no point in trying again, courtesy of Ron's spur of the moment action. If someone would just let me talk before jumping to conclusions I can tell that I sincerely doubt that anyone but the caster of the _Obliviate_ would be able to end it. I haven't spent weeks with my nose buried in books to come out clueless." She turned on her heels and started towards the tent where the packed lunch were calling unnaturally loud for her. Hunger made her grumpy. "Bloody arrogant wizards think they got all the answers. Bloody typical."

Harry and Ron stared after her speechless for a moment while Charlie tried to hide his grin until Harry snapped out of it.

"Hermione, wait Hermione! Come back!"

Hermione stopped and glared at him over her shoulder. "_What_?"

"Um," Harry said, her anger and the familiarity of it making him unsure of himself. "Er, we know who cast the spell. Or we at least think we do. Rabastan Lestrange?"

"Rabastan Lestrange?" Hermione recognized the name from her studies of Voldemort's first time around but it didn't make sense to her. She probably should read those new books. "It makes absolutely no sense. Why would he do that to me?"

"We think you killed his brother." Harry looked very apologetic but Ron didn't notice the way her face paled.

"That and he's gone completely bonkers after You-Know-Who died." He smiled.

Hermione looked at Charlie who returned her look with concern and compassion. "Charlie," she almost whimpered.

This was everything she had feared.

She had _killed_ someone.

"Hermione, it's al right. He was a Death Eater, he probably tried to kill you too!"

"But I _killed_ someone. I murdered!" Tears quickly started forming and falling from her eyes and Charlie was beside her in two big strides enveloping her in his warmth.

"There were nothing you could do about it."

"It was Rodolphus and Rabastan that killed your parents too. You were pretty upset about it, and probably not in your right mind," Harry volunteered while Ron stared gaping at his big brother hugging his ex-girlfriend in a way he deemed very inappropriate for the occasion.

And then lightning struck.

"_Hermione's_ your new co-worker-girlfriend?" Harry hid a smile behind his hand, Charlie looked sheepish, and Hermione looked at her boyfriend with a look of puzzlement. "The one you told Mum about when you said you wouldn't be at the wedding?"

Hermione's look turned to a "no you didn't"-look and then to the "you should be ashamed of yourself, lying to you mother like that" before she sighed and left him. Charlie looked at his younger brother and cleared his voice.

"You have to understand, that I didn't know she was Hermione at first, she was just this woman who started working with us and turned out to be pretty amazing. And then all of a sudden I realized that I had kinda – you know – fallen... in love... with her?"

Ron's face was a mask without emotion and Harry eyed his friend attentively.

"You're dating Hermione?"

"Er- yeah?"

"For how long?"

"Oh, er..." It was an odd feeling, being interrogated by his younger brother like this. He had done the same thing to Harry along with Bill when they found out he was dating Ginny, but he had never been in the receiving end of it, and he really hoped Ron wouldn't begin to ask about his intentions with Hermione, because, come one – it was _Ron_! "For about a month I think?" He realized Ron wasn't listening to him, but looking at something over his shoulder. Charlie turned around and noticed the red sparks shooting into the sky further east. He turned back to ask his brother what was going on only catching a last glimpse of him before both he, Harry, and the remaining aurors apparated away. And surprisingly soundlessly. It explained how he hadn't noticed the first aurors leaving earlier.

"Does anyone want something to-" Hermione came out of the tent, obviously ready to offer the big team of aurors some of their food and looked around at the abandoned chairs and Charlie's lonely form. "Er?"

"They left all of a sudden," Charlie informed her and went over to her. He really needed to hug her. Hermione hummed with content wrapped in his warmth.

"What happened?" she asked and snuggled closer.

"There were some red sparks and they just left without saying anything."

"They other aurors probably found something."

"You noticed that? I though you were to caught up in scolding Ron and Harry."

"I'm a woman – I multitask!"

"You what?" Charlie frowned and Hermione smiled at his ignorance when faced with muggle expressions."

"Nothing. Let's go inside and have some lunch while we wait for them to come ba-"

If the aurors had used some sort of spell to make them silent when apparated away, they certainly didn't use it when they returned. It was likely that the struggling man held between two of the aurors Hermione didn't know made the silencing process difficult. It may just make it pointless.

The thin man looked around nervously until he noticed Hermione. Then he smiled.

"Do you know why you're here Lestrange?" Harry sounded very authorative and Hermione got the feeling that hew as the one leading the group of aurors. She felt inexplicably proud.

"Hermione Granger. I didn't think they'd find you." The man cackled and the aurors around him all pointed their wands at him. "I suppose they haven't broken my spell yet?"

"We haven't," Charlie answered him through a clenched jaw.

"But you will now, or I'll make sure the Wizengamot will be extra strict with you."

"I don't feel like taking it off. I like her so much better without her memory." Hermione's inside grew cold with anger when the Death Eater smiled at her.

"Give it back," she demanded and tried to walk to him, but Charlie kept her back.

"No." Rabastan smiled with mirth but obviously hadn't noticed the matching smile on Harry's face.

"If you're going to resist, Mr. Lestrange, I see only one solution. _Imperio_." Harry pointed his wand at the constricted wizard whose eyes grew empty and dull. "Perform Finite Incantatem on Hermione Granger to take away the Obliviate you put on her two and a half year ago."

An auror removed the ropes and another handed Rabastan his wand. "_Finite Incantatem_," he said and everybody looked expectantly at Hermione. She looked at Charlie.

"So?" She thought for a bit.

"No difference."

The group of aurors started muttering among themselves and Charlie took Hermione's hand and gave it a light squeeze.

After a bit of silent discussion the aurors seemed to come to an agreement.

"Hermione," Harry said in his authoritative voice and Hermione straightened her back just a tad bit. "We're going to lift the imperius off him and make him do it himself. He will have a wand and he will point it at you, but everyone of us will keep our wands at him at all time. I still want you to be ready to use a shielding charm though, okay?" Hermione nodded and pulled her wand from the case on the side of her thigh, where all the dragon keepers kept it. Charlie gave her a hug and a soft peck on her lips before stepping a bit away, also drawing his wand pointing it at Rabastan like the aurors.

"Are you ready Hermione?" Harry asked and Hermione nodded. He looked around at his team who nodded back to him. He cast a silent spell, which Hermione suspected was a stunner before raising the imperius. "Lestrange, I'm going to let you do the obliviate spell yourself. I want you to know that my entire team are watching you with wands at ready, so if you try to do _anything_ we will be at you faster than you'd think possible. You wont be able to apparate neither, so don't wast out time by attempting to do so. I'm going to un-stun you on the count of three and then I expect you to remove the curse without trouble." Harry paused to give Rabastan time to understand. "One, two, three."

Rabastan blinked, raised his hand and performed a slashing motion that made Hermione throw up a wordless protego almost instinctively. Several jets of red erupted from the aurors, and sent the captive flying a few feet away.

Hermione dropped to her knees grabbing the ground for support as she gasped for air. Her gaze was fixed on the figure that had come quite a bit closer to her. The _Death Eater_.

Harry walked cautiously up to the lifeless wizard his wand held ready in front of him. He cast a silent spell above the unmoving body but nothing happened.

"He's dead," he declared with a sad look at Hermione.

Comprehension washed over her, claiming every thought in her head and every breath in her chest. She tried to fight it but couldn't help the tears that flooded her eyes and blurred her vision. She had killed _again_. Killed a man and every hope of her regaining her memory. How was that possible?

"Breathe," a soft voice whispered in her ear and somehow Hermione's body understood the command as it started drawing in big breaths that soon turned into sobs.

She let go of her control, and let the tears fall freely from her eyes and flow down her cheeks as sobs tore though her chest.

Warm hands wiped some of the tears away before turning her face and pressing it softly against the hard but warm familiar planes of Charlie's body.

"What am I going to do now?" she whispered brokenly against his chest when the sobs quietened down and the tears flooded soundlessly. Charlie lifted her face and kissed the tears away, a soft press of his lips against each drop.

"We'll go back home and continue as before."

Hermione lifted her gaze from his chest to his face. His smiling face. With the red hair and the skin so freckled that it looked like a tan.

"Back home," she whispered.

She smiled when he pressed his lips softly against hers and her tears finally stopped forming.


End file.
